New semester brings new WOW

A fresh year means a brand new Week of Welcome, full of exciting events which will satisfy new peers while shocking and surprising returning students.“Planning WOW for fall has been an interesting experience for SPC,” said the president of the Student Programming Council, Lukas Calafell. “Although Week of Welcome is expected, we face new challenges and opportunities each year.”The planning for WOW took the effort of all those involved with the SPC, from the executive board to the directors. Most of the events for WOW have been used before, such as the comedy show, the movie and the pit event, but every year these are different and creatively programmed.

Kicking off the new academic year is the first WOW event, the GC Pit Event. It will take place on Tuesday, Aug. 23, in the Graham Center Pit from 11 a.m to 2 p.m. Participating students will be able to create and customize their own license plates while enjoying pizza and other SPC giveaways.

Calafell said, “We believe present students familiar with our events continue to attend and enjoy them, because we continue to work hard to make each event a unique experience for these students. We try to mix things up and come up with new things that can be done at these events like new giveaways for students each year, which adds to the overall experience.”

On Wednesday, Aug. 23, WOW continues with the SPC Comedy Show featuring Dan Ahdoot at the GC Ballrooms at 6:00 p.m.  Ahdoot was a finalist for NBC’s Last Comic Standing and winner of the 2003 Philadelphia Comedy Competition.

“With this event, we were able to book Ahdoot in advance during this past February at the National Association for Campus Activities National Convention,” explained Calafell. “We think that these events, such as the comedy show, are enjoyable in itself; we just make sure that current students experience something different every year.”

The SPC Hypnotist Show will be featuring Sailesh. Dubbed “the World’s Best Hypnotist,” Sailesh will once again entrance the audience on Thursday, Aug. 25 in the GC Ballrooms at 9 p.m.
“We [SPC] continue to book Sailesh every fall for WOW because he’s always received well by the students and it helps build a tradition,” said Calafell. “We felt good about these two performers [Sailesh and Ahdoot] and decided that they would contribute to making this Week of Welcome memorable and enjoyable.”

Week of Welcome ends on Friday, Aug. 25, with the SPC Friday Night Movie featuring “Fast Five,” at GC 140 at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. The event will include free popcorn and drinks.

“These events are necessary for incoming students because it shows them that FIU has the best interest of the students in mind,” said Calafell. “Aside from providing excellent academic programs, the University also supports a Campus Life department with excellent councils who provide these educational and fun experiences for new students.”

SPC also hopes that new students will realize that being a Panther does involves hard work, but also allows room for fun.

“This week is about exposing new students to the University with a college experience that is truly ‘Worlds Ahead!’” said Calafell.