Southern New Hampshire University’s (SNHU) Celebration of Light was held Dec. 7 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Student Center.
The event was held by the Student Government Association (SGA) as a way to give students an opportunity to celebrate winter traditions from around the world.
There were many activities for students to enjoy, hosted by different clubs and organizations on campus. Hot chocolate was available to sip while students made their own hot chocolate mix in mason jars.
Cookie frosting was also a popular option, as well as make your own snowflakes and holiday cards.
For the more nature oriented, cranberry and popcorn garland could be made to feed the birds, or wrap festively around a Christmas tree.
The door decorating competition between offices in the Student Center was a huge draw for this event. Students were able to pick up a guide to voting for whose door they thought was best, and completing the survey entered them into a raffle.
Live music by Lauren Light filled the student center throughout the entire event. Bingo was held in the pub, and free Chipotle was available for the first 100 hungry students to arrive.
“Celebrating the celebration of light is awesome. I enjoyed being here as part of Student Government Associations to celebrate here, meeting new friends and alumni. There’s a lot of joyful music, dance, great speakers, food, and the door decoration competition.” said Kusum Acharya, a senior SGA Senator and member of the International Student Association.
“It was a rather successful event with a lot of people coming and making cool crafts, and being really excited about it, and leaving pretty happy and relaxed to go work on their final projects,” said junior Stephanie Anderson.
“This is the second year that SGA has re-amped the meaning of the Celebration of Light. Before it was mainly focused on certain religions and cultures around the holidays, and now we’re trying to include different clubs and organizations to be a part of it, and do activities,” said Michelle Fortin, a sophomore senator for the SGA.
Fortin added, “We also do door decorating, and whoever wins technically has bragging rights until the next celebration of light. There were a lot of clubs that wanted to do an activity during this event, and that’s always great to outreach with different clubs and have them be a part of something so big. It was another successful year.”
Overall, this event was a great opportunity for students to have some holiday fun and interact with the community in the midst of incoming finals.
From left to right: Yuyang Sun, Eben Korankye, Kamila Ataee, Kusum Acharya, Sheela Gondi, Mahboba Akhtarzadah.