Attendees and volunteers at Semester Two’s O-Day came together to weather the weather last Wednesday, with students and Guild Staff alike hailing it as a success.
Vice President of Activities Athina Hilman was concerned the chill, intermittent showers, and strong winds would keep students away and is thankful that wasn’t the case.
This is Athina’s last O-Day as she graduates at the end of the year. Photo: Curtin Student Guild.
“People still came in droves. So that was a bit surprising. But I guess that shows there’s a healthy appetite for campus life regardless of the weather,” she says.
Running from 11am-2:30pm over 100 stalls made up of student clubs and societies, political parties, sports clubs, and even the Aberdeen Hotel, could be seen set up along Charles Court Promenade north from the library to building 408.
With more than enough free snacks and giveaways to keep the hunger at bay, there was always a steady stream of students.
Second year med students Jameson Bodden and Mitchell Dowling, noting the number of people, think it’s great to see everyone getting around it and that O-Day is a good excuse to catch up with mates you haven’t seen in a while.
On the other hand, international student from Bangladesh Shah Nawaz isn’t surprised by the number of people at the event but instead thinks it’s great to see such a huge range of diversity.
“It’s been really nice and everyone’s really helpful. There’s advertising everywhere and there lots of free stuff, which is cool,” he says.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom, as the showers passed the sunshine came back out. Photo: Andrew Williams.
On the main stage some of the finalists for the Talent 4 Tomorrow Competition could be heard throughout the day with performances from Ortinel G, rap trio DNM, Shabab, and Mickey Montella. The talent show’s Grand Finale will take place on Wednesday 2 August (12-2pm) at Atkinson Forum, just north of the library.
DNM are part of the 17 Grand Finalists of the Talent 4 Tomorrow competition. Photo: Andrew Williams.
There will be two prizes given out at the Grand Finale, the People’s Choice Award voted on by the audience and the winner receives $1000 prize, while a judging panel will decide the University Choice Award with a prize of $10,000 in paid performance opportunities to the winner.
Athina thinks of the four performances as a taste tester for Wednesday’s event that also increased engagement, as could be seen students congregating around the main stage.
However, Athina believes that the congestion around the main strip of stalls near the Guild office creates some accessibility issues for O-Day but admits it’s a hard balance between spreading out the stalls and making things too sparse. Moving forward she says more will be done to address this.
“It’s something to keep in mind whenever you do these kinds of activities or events, is that you really need to be mindful of accessibility,” she says.