Christina Carter

Squeezing out the last band of color to complete her rainbow, Ashley Roy – along with other students and residents – gathered in Brandt Lounge on March 15 to create festive attire in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. Many people just passing through saw the green punch and shamrock cookies and decided to take part in the event hosted by the Campus Activities Board.

Michelle Ajemian
Staff Writer

The transformation of the normally blasé Brandt lounge to an area of artistic expression occurred to help celebrate the anticipated St. Patrick’s Day holiday.

The Residence Hall Association sponsored the event on March 15, where students used their creative juices to decorate St. Patrick’s Day t-shirts.

Black and green t-shirts, colors of the rainbow puffy paint, and blow dryers were scattered across the pool table in preparation for the artists.

Balloons, green and white streamers and St. Patrick’s Day posters adorned the Brandt dorm walls ready to celebrate.

Everyone knows if food is offered, college students will come in the masses. In spirit of the event, there were shamrock cookies, green cream filled Oreos, lime sherbet and 7-Up concoction and mint green Tic Tacs were offered.

Some of the shirts were decorated in an ordinary St. Patrick’s Day fashion, including Happy St. Patrick’s Day, “Everyone loves an Irish Girl” and “Kiss me I’m Irish” designs.

“I do take it very seriously,” said Raquel Chavez, a senior math major. Not taking any chances of messing up her Happy St. Patrick’s Day t-shirt, Raquel copied the Curlz font from her computer.

“I have no clue where I am going [for St. Patrick’s Day] but I will definitely going to be wearing it,” Chavez said.

Other students decorated their shirts with inside jokes and sayings.

This included t-shirts that were decorated with a student’s imaginary friend Firgil, Las Tres Bonitas Gorditas, the name a group of students gave themselves and the Brandt’s nickname, the Brizzle, while adding random four leaf clovers and pots of gold here and there.

Tyler Shepard didn’t include anything St. Patrick’s Day related and instead expressed his love of politics by decorating a shirt for Richard Nixon and the Republican Party by writing “Giuliani ‘08” on the sleeve.

“St Patty’s Day was first celebrated in Boston. Boston is in America and Richard Nixon is president of America,” said Tyler Shepard, a junior business administration major, when justifying how his t-shirt is related to St. Patrick’s Day.

As the night progressed more and more people kept coming and were persuaded into decorating a t-shirt that there was no more room on the pool table. People had to resort to the floor and makeshift tables.

“Last year it was done by the Residence Hall Association as well and I thought it was so much fun and simple that we could make it an annual thing,” said Sarrie Fleming a junior radio broadcasting and music major who is the Brandt Delegate for the Residence Hall Association.

“It’s a fun way for people to get together and bond over shirts,” Fleming said.

The talk of the town that night was the event at Boomers, which occurred later on that night. Students at the event were so proud of their t-shirts that they were going to wear them to the event. Others used the St. Patrick Day t-shirt making activity as a stress release.

“I have to study so I can’t go to Boomers,” said Roddy Cobb, a junior political science major.

“This is a way to relax and take a break while not going too far,” Cobb said.

This was one of many events that the University of La Verne threw in anticipation of the St. Patrick’s Day holiday. Students commented that they had never seen a school so involved with a holiday.

Everyone at the event not only had a great time, but got to walk away with something in return other than the experience.

Michelle Ajemian can be reached at majemian@ulv.edu.