By Nathan Burns
With only a few weeks remaining, students at Fitchburg State University are feeling the weight of the semester pressing on their shoulders. Already hard at work, they know that final examinations loom ever closer, ready to deluge the campus with the stress of bizarre schedules and late-night cram sessions.
Fortunately, the Fitchburg Activities Board is giving students a week full of events and activities to take their minds of finals.
“Spring Week is our final hurrah of the year,” says Julie Fontana, president of FAB, “to give students a week of fun before the stress of finals come about.”
For members of FAB, who work all year long to bringing event to campus, Spring Week is the swan song. To ensure that it is all it can be, for both students and FAB, planning begins well in advance, and continues until the appointed week.
“Typically the committee starts meeting in November,” Fontana says. “However, we began planning for Spring Week this year in February and met once and sometimes even twice a week to begin planning.”
To match the light tone of the event, FAB has given this year’s Spring Week a deliciously whimsical theme: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. As a result, many of the events will be given an appropriate title.
“We re-named each event to correspond with our Willy Wonka theme,” says Fontana. “Mr. FSU, a contest where 10 male contestants are judged in several pageant-style competitions, is being called ‘He’s got the Golden Ticket.’ The block party on the Main Quad or ‘Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory,’ which will feature various inflatables, music put on by WXPL, as well as a Chocolate Fountain and an Oxygen Bar. The block party will be continued in the evening in an event called ‘Everlasting Fun’ and will also have various food items, a DJ, and a Rock Wall.”
Every day of the week will feature at least one FAB-sponsored event, designed to capture as much attention as possible. Of all these events, however, two have a strong presence on their own: Club Raven with White Panda and a concert featuring Mac Miller and the Cool Kids.
“Planning for Mac Miller and Club Raven began in September and were planned by a separate committee,” Fontana says. “The committee also meets biweekly, and works from start to finish surveying, to coordinating with an agent, to gathering volunteers and security. The dates of these events require a lot of time; committee members and volunteers begin meeting at 7 a.m. at the day of to set up the stage, place the lighting and so on.
“Mr. FSU is another event that requires a good amount of time and work; once the students are nominated and selected to compete, [they] must also meet numerous times, sometime two to three times a week to rehearse and prepare the show.”
Spring Week kicks off on Monday, April 30 at 8 p.m. with the Mr. FSU pageant being held at the Weston Auditorium. The block party will begin at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday on the Main Quad and the Holmes Dining Hall will be sponsor a meal themed after Spring Week that evening. Wednesday will see a paintball-style water-balloon fight on the Main Quad beginning at 4 p.m. as well as a free performance by comedian/magician Derek Hughes at the dining hall at 9 p.m. The Mac Miller Concert, featuring the Cool Kids, will begin at 7 p.m. at the Recreation Center. Tickets are available now for $15. Friday will cap off Spring Week at 8 p.m. with the Club Raven dance party, featuring White Panda, at the Recreation Center; tickets will be available for $5.