This semester’s O-Day was the biggest in years and shows club culture on campus is here to stay, Guild President Jasmyne Tweed said.
“It’s been fantastic to see over 170 stalls and thousands of students. With over 90 club stalls, this is the biggest and busiest it’s been post-COVID,” she said.
“It’s great to have everyone back and it shows campus culture is ready for 2024.”
Vice President of Activities Max Zhang agreed with Jasmyne and said he was blown away by the number of attendees.
“It was so packed, at one point to walk from the guild reception down to the koi pond it took me 15 minutes because there were so many people,” he said.
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As usual, the stalls were spread along Sir Charles Court Promenade from Koorliny Way down to the library, but there were some changes this time, as the pop culture/social clubs drew the short straw and got placed in the naughty corner of the Guild Courtyard.
The Guild stalls were set up next to the Koi Pond and the sports clubs outside the library and had front row seats to the Curtin Elite Judo Club’s student slamming demonstrations all day.
Another notable change this year was the crowd favourite Electronic Music Appreciation Society (EMAS) relocated to the north end of the promenade next to the incredibly popular Bubble Tea Society and the carnival games.
The Grok stall enjoyed the shaded Guild Courtyard despite the days’ humidity. Photo: Artemisia Blythe.
According to Max, the idea behind moving EMAS was to open up more space for stalls in the middle of the promenade, and to incentivise more movement for the crowd.
“Normally we have a stage in the middle of the promenade but we couldn’t fit it this year because of the amount of stall’s we had, which really speaks to how much O-Day has grown,” he said.
It was Max’s first major event as the Guild’s Vice President of Activities.
Max said the atmosphere was pumping thanks to the techno connoisseurs.
While some better line management wouldn’t have gone amiss outside the guild reception as people collected their club vouchers, there’s really only so much that can be done when thousands of people are trying to get a taste of the stall smorgasbord and the plethora of freebies it comes with. Shout out to the Gillette stall, who doesn’t need free toiletries?
While O-Day is the main event, this O-Week also saw the return of the Guild-run friend speed dating on Tuesday and Thursday, alongside free DIY activities and giveaways (cinnamon donuts and fruity iced tea). Here’s us covering last semester’s friend speeding.
Jasmyne said the success of this semester’s O-Week is just the beginning and invited students to attend the upcoming Club’s Carnival on March 27.
The Guild’s next event is the classic Toga Party, with assurances we won’t see a repeat of the issues from last year.
The last Toga party was surprisingly packed, so packed in fact it took upwards of 25 minutes to buy a drink. But Jasmyne said the Guild has expanded Tav’s liquor licence this time to include the guild courtyard. Additionally there will be separate areas for dancing, the silent disco, and just plain socialising.
The Toga Party is this Friday, March 1, from 6pm and hosted at the Tav. For those of you on the fence about going, a surprising amount of people commit to wearing the togas, and the event is not one to miss.