By: Mackenzie Byerlee
Features Editor
Conversations and drinks flowed at “Mocktails and Mingling” on Sept. 15.
Hosted by psychology club and Psi Chi, the event brought students together for midday activities to break up their day.
“We always start off the semester with a social event, so I wanted to do one that was more creative and interactive,” psychology major Eily Smith, a senior and president of psychology club, said.
“Mocktails and Mingling” was created with the hopes of bringing participants together in a fun environment.
The mocktail portion of the event allowed students to create their own drinks with a variety of sodas, juices and lemonades as well as toppings such as lemons, limes and maraschino cherries.
They provided a menu as well that gave students an idea of drinks that they could make.
Attendees said that they enjoyed being able to connect with other psychology majors and participate in non-academic activities while on campus.
One of the participants was psychology major Mattie Matarazzo, a sophomore.
“I wanted to join more clubs and I’m a psychology major so I thought it could be cool to connect,” Matarazzo said.
Although most attendees were psychology majors, the event was open to any student that wanted to stop by.
The other activity at the event provided students with printed templates for them to create semester bucket lists.
The bucket lists gave students the opportunity to set goals for themselves and focus on what matters the most.
“My goals for this semester are to pass all of my classes, study for tests and find my minor,” Matarazzo said.
Being able to write out their intentions for the semester can help students visualize what they hope to accomplish in the coming months and increase their motivation.
Psychology major Alexandra Pascoal, a sophomore, said that she enjoyed this event as a recent transfer student.
“I’m a psychology major and we didn’t have a psychology club at Gateway so I wanted to join one here,” Pascoal said.
With such events and clubs available for students to be a part of at the university, it allows them the opportunity to put themselves out there and try new things.
This event in particular let attendees gather in the middle of the day in order to get as many students as possible to pop and have some fun between classes.
Being able to have a break to sit and sip mocktails and create goals for themselves is necessary for busy students.
The overall goal of this collaborative event was to bring a variety of people together at the beginning of the semester in order for them to truly feel as though they belong in the campus community.
All while enjoying colorful drinks and designing bucket lists to organize their thoughts and goals.
“I’m hoping that people feel welcomed and have a sense of community within psychology,” Smith said, “especially people who are new to Southern, they just want to make friends and have fun events that they can go to.”
