Students took a break from the stress of college life and took part in friendly competition at the Minority Mentorship Program Color Wars event. 

The event featured five teams of mentors and mentees divided into the colors blue, green, pink, red and white. At the end of the event, MMP announced the blue team won. 

Freshman Grant Baker, a mentee on Team Blue, said it did not surprise him his team won.

“It’s the only thing I ever do, so it doesn’t feel any different,” Baker said.

The teams competed in tug-of-war, egg toss, a relay race and capture the flag; Team Blue won tug-of-war, the relay race and capture the flag. 

Freshman Pablo Velasco-Moya said his favorite game was tug-of-war. 

“It really got things started. I was a little nervous about participating, but I feel like I did really well in tug-of-war,” Velasco-Moya said.

MMP Team Leader junior Jada Simpson said Color Wars is a new edition to the MMP Transitions Week.

“Color Wars is something we have started new this year, it’s going to be a new tradition. It’s essentially a big field day event,” Simpson said. “So, we’re going to have a lot of different games for the freshmen to be able to play and interact with each other, and also a way to have a friendly competition.”

Simpson said Transitions Week is typically the second week of school and it features events like game night, the Greek Expo, a cookout and Color Wars. 

“Transitions Week is a week full of events that we have for the students, and it’s where we host an event every single day,” Simpson said. “It’s really just a way for them to connect with other freshmen; they can get out of their bubble, out of their comfort zone, and meet new people.”

MMP co-director, senior James Buckley, joined the program his freshman year.

“I was a mentee, and I was assigned an upperclassman minority mentor. He was there to help me throughout my freshman year because adjusting to college life is already hard for any student, especially when you’re an underrepresented student population,” Buckley said.

He said staying in the program has helped him develop essential skills. 

“It challenged me to develop my leadership skills and my ability to interact with others,” Buckley said. “It helped me see that I do have the ability to mentor somebody else or provide guidance to somebody else.”

Co-director senior Aniya Polite said the program has been helping minority students for 32 years.

“MMP was started in 1991 to raise retention for minority students at UCA,” Polite said. “We have weeks like this, called Transitions Week, to help the freshmen make their transition easier from high school to college.”

Polite said she has enjoyed seeing various friendships being made through MMP.

“I’ve enjoyed the bonds and friendships that I create, not only among the mentors but the mentees, the freshmen, as well,” she said.

Freshman Tre’von Bogard said MMP has already introduced him to new friends.

“I’ve met some cool people out here, like Grant and Pablo,” Bogard said.

Polite said MMP hosts monthly events where students can hang out and enjoy snacks. The semester’s first will be Sept. 19 in the Ronnie Williams Student Center.

Information about MMP and its upcoming events can be found on Instagram, at @uca_mmp.