Students come together for SUNY Oswego’s annual Lakerfest event
SUNY Oswego’s annual event Lakerfest was the place to be on Saturday and brought new and returning students together for an afternoon of activities.
“What’s cool about Lakerfest is that it gets everyone to come out of the dorms to see what is happening on campus,” said Sarah King, a sophomore at SUNY Oswego. “Especially for those who like to stay in a bit more.”
Lakerfest, a festival put on by SUNY Oswego’s department of Residence Life and Housing, took place at the Onondaga Hall field. From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., students participated in a number of games and obstacle courses, enjoyed carnival food and some even got a drawing of their own caricature.
Christian Viertel, a recent SUNY Oswego graduate, said it was a popular activity for the beginning of the year.
“It was one of my favorite things to go to when I was at Oswego,” said Viertel. “It just brings people together.”
That was the goal of the event, said resident assistant (RA) Zo DiSanto, who ran some of the activities, like water paintball. As a first-year student, DiSanto loved Lakerfest and how it allowed them to meet not just freshmen, but upperclassmen as well.
“As a first year student, it’s your first time being away from home and sometimes it’s hard to make friends,” said DiSanto. “I feel like Lakerfest is beneficial to them because they can meet people here.”
Many of the events put on by Residence Life and Housing and other campus departments during opening week were aimed at freshmen and transfers. But Lakerfest was one of the few whose goal was to unite the campus as a whole, with various activities such as jousting, a psychic, a masseuse and even therapy dogs.
It was an event that students were looking forward to for the four day weekend, with classes being cancelled in observance of the Jewish holidays. King said she wanted to find activities to do for the short break and heard about the event through a friend.
“There’s so many things to do here, which is really good for the campus,” said King. “My favorite thing was definitely the stuff-a-buddy.”
Students waited in line for sno-cones and cotton candy, a psychic who read students’ cards and the popular food truck, which gave out food vouchers for the first 300 attendees of the festival.
While the lines were long, DiSanto said the fun made it all worth it, especially with the stress of the first two weeks of classes.
“Lakerfest just allowed them all to take a break and realize that college isn’t just work, it’s a lot of fun, too,” said DiSanto. “That’s the best part about this festival.”