Annual event draws a crowd
While students get ready for Spring Break, there are things they must consider beforehand and campus organizations came out Wednesday to ensure students stay safe.
The Student Health and Wellness Center partnered up with Pep-Talk to host the annual spring break fair at Texas A&M University – Kingsville (TAMUK). The event, dubbed Tropical Temptations, encourages students to have a fun, but safe Spring Break, which is March 14 to 18.
“A lot of planning went on for this event,” Pep-Talk President Esmeralda Gutierrez said. “First, we had to make sure the pavilion was available for reservations. Then, we had to come up with a team, topics we wanted to inform students on and figure out what organization can talk about the topic. Finally, we sent out the invitations to the department.”
Tropical Temptations is created with the purpose of informing students about how to stay safe and taking care of themselves when going to different places during the break. It starts off with students going to a booth and signing up to let Pep-Talk members know who attended. Then, each student is given a green slip which has the names of the organizations that came out to the event. Each student is supposed to go up to the booths that are set up, talk to the members of each organization and gain information that could benefit them. After they have finished talking to the members, the slips get signed and students are able to get free prizes such as pens, lollipops, magnets and more. Once the student has gained knowledge on how to stay safe while having fun during spring break, they are able to walk up to one final booth, fill out a survey and get a free shirt.
“The event is really informational. Each booth gave us a lot of information on how to be safe during spring break and I thought that was really important to us as teenagers and college students who are going places and have fun with their friends,” sophomore Angel Martinez said.
Martinez mentioned she gained a sense of safety after circling the booths. She explained that prior to attending Tropical Temptations, she was going to party and have fun but did not think about the potential consequences she could face until after she was done with the interactive event.
“This definitely opened my eyes as to what could possibly happen,” Martinez said.
Besides Student Health and Wellness and Pep-Talk, resources like Title IX, TAMUK counseling, the Kingsville Clinic and U in the Driver’s Seat (UDS) set up booths around the pavilion.
“I hope they (students) gain a lot of knowledge and understanding to the different organizations that are available to them as well as a good understanding of what they can do to take care of themselves for this week of relaxation,” Professional Counselor of Student Health and Wellness Counseling Services Roxana Castellanos said.
For more information on the services students have available, visit the Health and Wellness center located behind the Business Administration Building or call them at (361)-593-2611.
