By Salma EL Amrani, InDepthNH.org
SNHU Homecoming 2024: the annual Southern New Hampshire University event happens every year in late October. It was one of the biggest events in the university when students, their families, alumni, faculty, and staff were invited to take part in activities, walk around the Street Fair, and celebrate all things SNHU. At the beginning of the semester, I resolved to get more involved with big events on campus. It was my first time attending SNHU Homecoming, and I wanted to make the most of it. The theme this year was music, so the event was aptly nicknamed “Let the SNHU Times Roll”.
At eight o’clock on Saturday morning, SNHU bustled with activity. It was a far cry from the quiet, empty mornings I usually knew whenever I spent my weekends on campus. On the green space where the bulk of major events took place, staff members started to set up tents for the Street Fair. On the grass next to Robert Frost Hall (one of the academic buildings), they were blowing up one of the bouncy houses. The air was crackling with high energy. Soon, crowds of people would be gathering on campus.
I spent the first half of the day in Gustafson Hall (admissions and student financial services) volunteering with SNHU’s Chandler Center and Rise Against Hunger, a non-profit organization that fights hunger worldwide. At 8:15 am, I arrived to help other volunteers, including other Chandler Center students and full-time staff, set up tables and supplies. At 10:00 am, 40+ volunteers arrived. For two hours, we prepared, weighed, and packaged thousands of meals that would be shipped overseas to people who needed aid. My task was to weigh the meals, making sure that they were all within a certain weight limit. As the packages rolled in like waves, I amused myself by talking with my friends, and enjoying their company as I concentrated on my work.
Our collective goal was to package 15,000 meals. After every thousandth meal we packaged, one volunteer rang the gong to celebrate. When we packaged over 10,000 meals, I jumped at the opportunity to ring it. In the end, we were 1,000 meals away from completing it. At that point, many volunteers had left to pursue other activities, leaving a handful of us to finish packaging the last 19 meals.
After volunteering, I immediately made my way to the Street Fair. Outside of the usual school week, it had transformed into a festival. I spotted three different inflatable bouncy houses that little kids and, to my amusement, SNHU students were fiercely enjoying. Colorful balloons were tied to the lampposts, and food trucks lined the paths. There were lawn games like cornhole and horseshoes on the grass. On the other side of the field, a band sang their original songs as people listened. I nodded my head to the beat. There was a giant rock wall, a popular activity at the event. One of the students reached the top of the wall. His friends cheered below. Next to it, the Student Government Association gave little kids face paints. One girl beamed at her mother as she pointed to the pink butterfly on her cheek.
Under the yellow tent near the stairs, a cheerful woman handed me a music-themed t-shirt with “Let the SNHU Times Roll” on it. It was gray with splashes of blue and yellow, the school colors and the head of a guitar took the place of “o” in “Roll”. It was the only free swag I managed to grab, but I was satisfied. I attended a huge social event I had avoided two years in a row before. I connected with my peers and faculty, and I served the community. It was a day well spent.
Salma EL Amrani is an Intern at InDepthNH.org. She is a Junior at Southern New Hampshire University, majoring in History and minoring in Creative Writing. On campus, she is the Secretary of the Creative Writing Club. She also works as a tutor and a coordinator at the Chandler Center on campus. Salma is giving readers a glimpse into the life of living on a university campus.
