Stay woke week was a week full of events put on by the multicultural student union in collaboration with SAGA, QTRAC, and the Intercultural Center.
It spanned from November 12th to the 16th and had a variety of events such as “Breathe and Be,” a Friendsgiving dinner, a donation basket making night, a silent disco, and an open mic night to finish the week off.
In the words of Blessed Adeoye, the president of MSU, “The concept was a familial cozy environment.” He also explained that the timing of this week of events was to “focus on mental health before the break to combat seasonal depression and to use the time before break to uplift people.”
Adeoye recounted the first event of the week saying, “’Breathe and Be’ was an MSU event, it was a mental health focused check in. It was run by Jason who was a great moderator; he helped the conversation flow and let people express their emotions.”
The president talked about his personal favorite event, Friendsgiving, “We worked with the IC for this event, it’s a tradition for them and we decided to combine the events because we were both planning separate ones.” He went on to explain that he’s glad they came together to satisfy both clubs and how beneficial it was that they were able to reach different audiences. The mood of Friendsgiving was lively as explained by Isabell Cyr, the president of SAGA, “There was a huge crowd, there was music, there were three or four long tables in the GHH atrium that were filled.” As for the food, ribs, beef, rice, and traditional Thanksgiving dinner was served. Friendsgiving was “the highlight of the week” from Adeoye’s perspective, and it incorporated the most clubs including SAGA, IC, and QTRAC.
As explained by Cyr: “The IC and MSU planned to host it together, and QTRAC talked to SAGA about making it more of a departmental hosting, which helped us reach more students. The food options were great, the feeling of community, seeing bonds being made, recognizing familiar faces, and even hearing the fun from other levels of GHH brought a lot of joy.”
The donation basket making event was an MSU food drive that spanned the whole week. Adeoye commented, “The bins are being taken to charity, and the event itself had a nice fall theme and a comfortable feeling.”
The silent disco was a bit of a different vibe; a “unique concept” and a “more fun uplifting one” Adeoye said. Most of the night, people’s headphones were tuned to different stations, but at the end, they all tuned to the same one which was playing the “Cha Cha Slide”. Adeoye said it was “energetic as opposed to some of the more calming ones earlier in the week.”
The week ended with an open mic night in the GHH atrium which was a collaborative effort with WQRI. “I really appreciate them,” Adeoye commented, “There were some issues with the dates, so we decided to come together, and it works well for this week’s theme of
expression. It’s a great event to come together for with a subtle multicultural theme. Shoutout to WQRI and the IC.”
If you missed out on any of these events, not to worry! Adeoye assured that they are doing another string of “Stay Woke Week” events in the spring.
“We’re going to use the warmer weather to bring people outside, we want it to be loud and exciting and to bring people together,” said Adeoye. The MSU president also said that they’re planning on hosting more events for Black History Month and different cultural awareness opportunities.
