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Isaiah Evensvold, junior in mathematics, rolled 'spin again" twice in a row at the Axe Library Luau on Thursday, Aug. 30. The luau is used to help students learn to navigate the library.

An educational Hawaiian celebration

Axe Library and many of its interconnected organizations came together for its annual Luau on the Lanai. The luau was originally planned to take place outside the library but was moved inside due to rain. 

“We are trying to make sure the students know about the resources that are available in this facility, so you’ll see Student Success is here, we want them to know about our workshops and other resources we have for students, tutoring,” said Heather Eckstein, director of student success programs. “Sodexo is here because Starbucks, always good. The library resource folks are around just making sure people know what resources are available for research, etc. And the women and gender resource center is here, the writing center is here.” 

Student Success had a hand in many parts of the luau, from providing information to grilling hot dogs. 

“There’s free food, hot dogs and chips and bottled water, for anyone who comes, and you can spin the wheel and win prizes, play some corn hole,” Eckstein said. “For Student Success we’re giving away stress balls so people who are can have a stress ball.” 

Sodexo also hosted a table where students could spin a wheel and win a coupon to one of the many restaurants in the U-Club, Gorilla Crossing, and Starbucks in the library.  

The Writing Center gave out bookmarks and had an interactive game set up called pineapple bowling. Students could roll a coconut to knock down the pineapples and win various prizes.  

“We’re here because we’re part of the library,” said Logan Rink, junior in English and Writing Center consultant. “Our office is in the library, so we’re just, you know, helping people sign up for our online account so people can make appointments with us and just kind of spreading the word about what we do and what the writing center is and all that jazz.” 

PRISM also had an informational booth where students could learn about their organization and the Gender Resource Center and pick up a piece of candy. 

“We are kind of both just here advocating for our own organization to help influence both LGBTQ+ students and allies alike to join us,” said Madison Price, sophomore in history and PRISM secretary. “We just want to widen the community for PRISM, just for everybody to have friends and to let them know they are not alone. … And we’re also advocating for the GRC downstairs, the Gender Resource Center, and we also have a lactation room for privacy for people and a de-stress center where people can color and do homework,”   

Students for Violence Prevention (SVP) had a booth beside PRISM also representing the Gender Resource Center. 

“There’s a Gender Resource Center in the library, it’s actually on the bottom floor, underneath us, so we are a part of it as well as PRISM and a couple other organizations,” said John Fredrickson, senior in psychology. “So we’re kind of representing SVP but also representing the Gender Resource Center,”  

SVP handed out some fun goodies to students to help manage their stress and discussed the resources their organization provides. 

“… Specifically we wanted to reduce stress, so we made slime so people could play with kind of like a stress ball,” Fredrickson said. “We really wanted to, if there were victims of some of the things we’re talking about, domestic violence, sexual assault, we really wanted to reach out to them and make sure they have a community around them and have something they can have fun with and reduce stress hopefully.”  

The Luau on the Lanai is an annual event, so if any students missed out this year they can look forward to it next year. Students are encouraged to visit the library for more information about Student Success, the Writing Center, and the educational resources offered. 

 

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