The Minority Mentorship Program along with incoming freshmen battled it out in a variety of games during Mentors on the Yard featuring “Silent Library.”
“They [MMP events] bring the community out. Just get people together,” junior team leader PJ Denkins said.
The event took place Aug. 30 on the Ronnie Williams Student Center lawn and was inspired by the MTV game show “Silent Library,” where a group of contests would take on wild challenges while staying quiet in the hopes of earning cash.
Split across four teams, Crystal’s Comedians, Kam’s Crew, Mera’s Minions and PEAS [positively encouraging all students], students endured games such as the hula hoop challenge, the try not to laugh challenge, charades and cup stacking.
Having been the first MMP event he helped plan, Denkins said that while the games were his favorite part, it was the estimated 150 students that showed up that made him the happiest.
Mentor sophomore Linda Brimley said, “My favorite part about this event is the activity. The activity is really fun. You get a lot of smiles, you get a lot of laughs, you get a lot of conversations. It’s just really active.”
While the games were going on, students were also offered free tickets upon entry for a meal at the Wade’s BBQ food truck.
“They surprised me with Wade’s BBQ,” Denkins said. “They told me, ‘Oh, you know what would be good for Mentors in the Yard?’, because I had planned on doing a field day anyway, or something like this, but then it was like, ‘Well let’s move it outside and bring Wade’s BBQ in.’ Well, now we got Wade’s BBQ.”
Before students were allowed into the event, they had to sign in with Angela Jackson, an MMP co-advisor and the director of the Office of Student Advocacy and Community.
“I think it’s important to gather, get our students out and about to experience different aspects of UCA with the mentorship program,” Jackson said. “It’s geared toward working with incoming freshmen students to kind of help them make the transition to college, and so this week is Transitions Week, and this is our last event of the week that we’ve had.”
Having been a part of MMP since 2009, one of Jackson’s favorite parts of the program is watching the relationships of mentors and mentees grow throughout the semester and sometimes even into adulthood.
“I hope that they look at the fact that this is an organization that cares about them and hopes that they succeed. And it’s a group that, you know, they’re [MMP members] students and human just like they are, and they also like to have fun even though we’re here in college,” Jackson said.
Alongside the food and fun games, Angela handed out election registration forms to students who may not have signed up or needed to change their voting location.
Mentors on the Yard was the final event for Transitions Week, a series of MMP events that started Aug. 25.
Complete with a Disney-themed twist, this year’s Transitions Week also included Mentor Mayhem, a mentee-mentor reveal, Finding the Perfect Fit, an exploration of different RSOs around campus, MMP Olympics, a Disney-themed Olympic games and Greek Expo, a deep dive into UCA’s Greek Life experience.
Travis Johnson, assistant director of OSAC, said, “Right now it’s fun, but as we get into the semester we’ll have some educational things, things about finances, how to be a better student and then the mentor-to-mentee pipeline. Our students continue to be a part of the organization after they’ve been a mentee.”
Instead of Transitions Week ending with a final round of games, the crowds of people line danced to their heart’s content until the sun gave way to the night sky.
“You need people who you can be comfortable with, that you can have fun with, that you can speak with in confidence, especially as a freshman,” Brimley said.