Friars End Summer With A Bang At Provapalooza

by The Cowl Editor on September 13, 2018


Campus


By Anthony Bateman ’21

News

The Providence College Board of Programmers (BOP) held its traditional Provapalooza to bring students together for the start of a new school year. The event took place between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, September 8 on Smith Quad. 

The theme of this year’s event was that summer does not have to end. However, the cool temperature and the clouds in the sky might have signified to some that autumn was approaching sooner rather than later.   

 The annual fall festivity included lawn games, an inflatable slide and “wipe-out” game as well as a polaroid souvenir station. T-shirts and crafts were also made available to attendees as part of the celebration. 

Tables and chairs were set up across the lawn for people to sit and chat. Some could be seen simply lounging on the grass. Students were laughing and joking amongst their friends, holding on to some of the fun they had this summer.   

Students enjoyed food while listening to the live entertainment provided by the band, The Naticks. Food options included barbeque as well as food trucks filled with Spike’s Hotdogs and ice cream. 

Morgan Weiner ’21 was in attendance, grabbing some food with her friends. “So far, I’ve enjoyed that a lot,” said Weiner, who was also looking forward to trying the inflatable slide. 

Weiner heard about the event through Instagram and again through the Daily Mail. She also recommended that students definitely should have stopped by, if they had the chance. 

BOP set up and organized the event for students on campus. 

Megan Donadio ’19, a member of the BOP social committee, and one of the organizers of Provapalooza, explained that “BOP is one of the major student-run organizations on campus. It consists of 10 committees and an executive board and it’s typically made up of about 60 people.” 

“Our main focus is to put on really awesome, exciting events for the campus. These events can range from something as big as Provapalooza or something as small as a movie watch,” said Donadio. 

BOP holds a wide array of events throughout the school year. 

Megan Yaeger ’19, also a member of the social committee and one of the other key organizers of the event, explained that the different committees within BOP plan off-campus trips, hold a concert in the spring, and even bring guest speakers to campus. 

Provapalooza “always happens in September and we always have Clam Jam in the spring” explained Donadio. Clam Jam is “an outdoor event, where we have vendors come with outdoor activities. Provapalooza is the beginning of the year big celebration and Clam Jam is our end of the year celebration,” added Yaeger. 

“Our whole goal is to make everyone on this campus feel very included and feel like they always have something to do, and a place to go, and have fun, and meet people,” said Donadio. 

PC Students can anticipate many more events provided by BOP throughout the coming school year.