Single or taken, NC State has got you covered this Valentine’s Day. Several student organizations will be hosting socials and tabling events for students to get free goodies, meet other people and enjoy the holiday.
On Monday, Feb. 13, the Black Students Board will host a Sweetheart Social in the Coastal Ballroom in Talley from 5-7 p.m. Students can stop by for speed friending accompanied by music, games, refreshments and a caricature artist.
University Activities Board (UAB) will host Cupid Relaxation Station Tuesday, Feb. 14 from 7-9 p.m. in Talley room 3285. Kandace Taylor, a fourth-year studying parks and recreation and Talley Tuesday chair, said students can stop by to enjoy a relaxing time with snacks, drinks and company, along with other free activities.
“There’s a bunch of different snacks and drinks,” Taylor said. “We have facemasks, [and] participants are encouraged, if they want, to put the face mask on during the event. But they can just take some. … We’re going to do watercolor painting, and it’s really just going to be a relaxing vibe.”
Taylor said the event is entirely flexible and open for everyone to attend. Other UAB events can be found on the committee events website.
The Movement Peer Educators are holding their semi-annual Candy, Condoms and Consent event Feb. 14 in the lobby of Talley from 12-2 p.m. Lily Smith, a fourth-year studying applied math and the director of events for The Movement of Peer Educators, shared the mission of the group.
“The Movement Peer Educators is a student group within the Women’s Center,” Smith said. “We are trained peer educators on interpersonal violence. So our mission is to end interpersonal violence on campus. And we do that through hosting a variety of workshops in the Women’s Center, and also for different student groups on campus.”
Candy, Condoms and Consent works to freely provide students with candy and safe-sex supplies and help inform students about consent.
“We also pass out some information about the Movement and information about consent, just as a part of our peer education mission,” Smith said. “We try to incorporate some conversations around consent while we’re tabling … We have what we call now the Conversation Wheel. So people will come up and spin the wheel. And we’ll ask them a question about consent and how it relates to them and just try to raise consciousness about consent around the holidays.”
The tabling event is held twice a year around Halloween and Valentine’s Day. Along with this event, the Movement holds workshops in the Women’s Center on the fifth floor of Talley. These workshops cover many topics involving interpersonal violence and are conducted by trained members.
Upcoming scheduled workshops can be found through the Women’s Center’s calendar of events.
The African American Cultural Center (AACC) will host a Valentine’s Mocktails and Tapas event from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16 in Carmichael Recreation Center room 1158 in conjunction with Black History Month. This event will feature a mixologist who will teach recipes to students.
Due to the single instructor and limited space in the room, registration is required and will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis. For those unable to attend, or anyone who wants to see the lessons from the mixologist after the event, videos will be posted on the AACC website and Instagram.
Saraiya Mills, a fourth-year studying communication and student programming intern with the AACC, said this year’s Black History Month theme, Black Euphoria, was an important consideration when planning the event.
“There’s lots of happiness and excitement that you get from being around everyone,” Mills said. “And that’s kind of the representation of Black euphoria. It’s definitely different from person to person. So for some people, euphoria will come through doing things that serve a community. And for others, it’ll be just from self-love, and that kind of joy. So we wanted a theme that focused on how amazing and how transformative peace and happiness can be and focusing on that in the Black community.”
Mills said the Valentine’s event connects with these ideas of joy and self-love.
“We wanted to do something for Valentine’s Day,” Mills said. “Knowing that that day as well could be seen as kind of a celebration of that love and happiness. And so I think they just intertwine in the sense that … we have a Black mixologist coming in, and it’s going to be a space for Black students to take that time to just be happy and be in that peace and to have a lot of fun.”
Along with this event, the AACC will open a love letter gallery shortly after Valentine’s Day.
“We’re also doing a love letter exhibition that’s happening with Black History Month as well,” Mills said. “Just for students to write about our theme, euphoria, [and] to go through our events and write little notes themselves. And then to kind of make scrapbooking pages to put up inside of our gallery.”
