By Glenn Rebert II
Feeling the pressure that comes with final exams at the end of the school year, students often look for ways to relieve themselves of that stress. All three Historically Black Universities in the City: Dillard University, Xavier University of Louisiana, and Southern University of New Orleans, decided to help ease that stress themselves. The HBCUs planned a three-event weekend, the NOLA HBCU SpringFling 2018, with Dillard hosting the first event, a Luau, to kick off the weekend on April 27th.
“We put the whole event together because we wanted to get all the HBCUs together and enjoy a fun time with our brothers and sisters from the other schools and just show love to one another,” said Joshua Foster, a Dillard sophomore, and one of the event organizers.
“Because some HBCUs are being closed [elsewhere] so this was just a host of events put together to bring everyone together,” Foster said of the importance of the institutions in the City.
The Luau took place on Dillard’s campus in front of their Student Union, next to their infamous pond. The area was well lit with torches along the grass. There was food, and three specialty drinks provided for the students. The event featured a wall and Luau accessories used for taking pictures, as well as games, and live music from DJ Retro. The students bonded over volleyball, a blown-up beach ball, connect four, limbo, blown-up balls that the students used to knock each other over with, and water balloons and water guns, used on almost everyone who attended the Luau.
Most of the students participated with their fellow HBCU members in all the activities, as well as danced when a few songs were played.
“What brought me out tonight was the unity of the HBCUs: Xavier, SUNO, and Dillard, being all in one setting together as college students, that are normally rival schools, was amazing to see,” said Joseph Caldwell, Mr. Dillard 2018-2019.
Normally, during sporting events, the three schools are at one another’s throats cheering and arguing back and forth about whom is the better team and ultimately, the better school. However, all those differences were put aside as the students celebrated a long semester and blew off steam together.
“The Luau was a very big stress reliever, because we have finals coming up, and for the whole weekend to have all the schools come together I think it’s special,” said Brianna Montgomery, a Xavier student. “Even though we have rivalries, it shows that we’re all college students and we just want to get through it and have fun and I will be looking forward to this every time ‘finals’ come around,” she said.
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