Golf Clubs, Tennis Balls, and 23 year olds?

This past weekend was probably one of the busiest weekends that I’ve had since I got to college a year and a half ago. Two organizations that I’m involved with, the International Relations Club and my social sorority had their huge events this weekend.

My sorority took over the Sunken Gardens and surrounding areas and turned Old Campus into a golf course for our Shamrock event that raises money for Avalon, a local women’s shelter, and Prevent Child Abuse America, one of our National Philanthropies. This year had a record attendance of around 1,800 golfers golfing at tee times ranging from 8:30 in the morning to 5pm and dressed up in some of the craziest costumes that you could imagine. Some went the traditional route and put on as much argyle as they could possibly find, while others came as mimes, Smurfs, ninjas and in the case of a team that I caddied for, were men that dressed up as women.

Inside the buildings of Old Campus, there were also people that were pretending to be other people but their clothing was more in line with Western Business Attire than Smurf. Every February, the International Relations Club hosts a Model United Nations conference for middle school students and this year we hosted 450 delegates from schools on the East Coast. They debated and wrote resolutions throughout the weekend and I was thoroughly impressed to see students as young as 11 and 12 be able to think through problems of the world and discuss solutions that really make sense.

Despite the craziness that ensued throughout the weekend and all of the stress of the weekend to make sure that the two events could co-exist peacefully, I’m proud to say that I could be involved with two fantastic organizations that do more than just involve themselves with things on campus. Both IR club and Kappa Delta put in a ton of time and effort to put on events that effect more than just our campus, whether it’s grooming the next leaders of the free world or working to prevent abuse in Virginia and across the country, these events will have an impact that lasts much longer than the weekend.

Jazmine Piña
Class of 2011