HU SGA and SLP Host SpringFest

By: Nadia Commodore

This past week, the members of HU’s Greer Dawson Wilson Student Leadership Training Program (SLP) partnered with HU’s Student Government Association (SGA) to host the annual SpringFest. 

According to SLP’s official Instagram account, Spring Fest is “a week full of energy, fun, and all the Hampton pride you can handle.” 

The week kicked off with the Pirate Fest Hampton Rodeo party hosted on Sunday night in the Student Center. The event, free for HU students, featured music from DJ Ghost and DJ Finesse, and boasted a Western-themed dress code. 

Spring Fest continued with different occasions throughout the week, including the Org Awards on Monday, the SGA Election Debates on Tuesday, and the Mental Health Fest on Wednesday. The week ended with three greatly anticipated events: Thursday’s DJ Battle, a musical showdown between three DJ campus DJ’s - DJ Houey, Finesse, and DJ Kill -  Friday’s NPHC Step Show, and the Silent Disco on Saturday, which Kaelyn Covington, HU third-year Strategic Communications major and member of SLP, said is her favorite. 

Covington shared that behind the events is a lot of tedious planning. 

“A lot actually goes into planning Spring Fest. SLP and SGA work closely together on planning and executing events. I think previous years, it’s been more collaborative. This year, however, I can say SLP really spearheaded a lot of it,” said Covington. 

Covington said that she looks forward to Spring Fest and stated:

 “SpringFest originally was supposed to act as a kind of second homecoming because homecoming used to not be as well-rounded and fun as it is now. But, now it serves as a way for Hamptonians to come together right before the end of the year, have fun, and enjoy the weather as it’s getting nicer.”

Not everyone agrees with Covington, though. Cherissa Shepard, a first-year Psychology major, expressed that her first SpringFest was a little underwhelming. She felt that the events “weren’t advertised well” and shared her disappointment with the decoration of the Student Center, a big part of every organization’s takeover week. 

“I honestly thought that I was going to see the [Student Center] more decorated, but it wasn’t, so it kinda just felt like any other week,” she said. 

Shepard was unable to attend the DJ battle but said that, from that point on, she would not be planning to attend the remaining events. 

SLP will continue hosting events with a takeover this upcoming week for students interested in joining the organization.