RSG hosts Awareness Week
The Residential Student Government will be hosting a wide array of events this week as part of Awareness Week 2014. The program is designed to improve residential life for all students and will take place in each of the residential areas around campus.
The programs will be hosted at the North Area, South Area, West Area and Parkside Area and will focus on diversity, safety, health and wellness and stress relief.
Each day will focus on promoting one of the values of Awareness Week. Monday’s events highlighted diversity and took place in the North Area Courtyard and the Birnkrant Multipurpose Room. Students participated in salsa and zumba classes and ate ethnic cuisine including Korean, Italian and Mexican food.
There was also information about the Los Angeles Metro to encourage students to go out and explore the city. Taryn Maister, programming chair for North Residential College, emphasized how important it is for students to get off campus and see Los Angeles.
“I don’t think students realize how diverse Los Angeles is,” Maister said. “We got restaurants from around L.A. to give us ethnic food for Awareness Week to show students that they don’t only have to stay on campus to get good food. They should go out and explore the city.”
Safety will be the main focus of Tuesday’s events, which will take place on the South Area Lawn. Self-defense, bike safety and CPR classes will be offered to students and In-N-Out burgers will be served to those who participate.
Jack Huebner, a freshman majoring in cognitive science, hopes to work on the EMT Team at sporting events on campus next year and is utilizing Awareness Week to learn CPR.
“I’m excited for Tuesday, which will definitely help me prep for applying to work on the emergency response team at sporting events next year,” Huebner said.
Wednesday’s events move off-campus to Cardinal Gardens where health and wellness will be the topic of interest. A basketball tournament is scheduled from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and healthy smoothies, burgers and granola will be offered to fuel the players.
Friday will round up Awareness Week with events at Parkside geared towards helping students with stress relief. Puppies will be available for students to pet to relieve the anxiety of midterm season.
Tina Tzeng, vice president of programming for RSG, emphasized that the organization wants to focus on more than just the social aspect of dorm life.
“During fall semester, RSG holds a highlighter dance and ‘Save Tommy Night,’” Tzeng said. “Now in spring semester, we wanted to move away from just social life and move towards areas that we can highlight and improve in residential life as well.”
Tzeng hopes that Awareness Week will serve as a bonding experience for those in student housing.
“At RSG, we want to make dorms more than just a place to live, we want to make them a home,” Tzeng said. “Awareness Week gives everyone a break from studying and a chance to come and have some fun. If everyone has a smile on their face, the event was a success.”