The On-Campus Apartments held a speed dating event Feb. 25th. Men and women packed Legacy Lounge, excited yet anxious to develop positive connections and build relationships.
Apartments RA Paddy Olson was in charge of developing and organizing the event. Olson said, “I was sitting in a meeting with the combined apartment staff. And one of our RDs mentioned that it would be a great idea to try and do some events that would actually bring the two halves of the apartments together (the men and the women).”
“The idea came to me. Maybe we should do speed dating,” Olson said. He added, “I know that’s been done elsewhere on campus.” Looking at you, Turner Hall. Eventually, the apartments considered opening the event to all students and all dorms, not just within the apartment community.
The event started at 7:30pm and ran until about 9:30pm, leaving just enough time for each person to get to know each of the participants. Before beginning the event, Olson encouraged the participants to talk about other things, rather than the typical small talk introductions (major, place of origin, etc). Each participant was allotted a minute and fifteen seconds before moving on to the next person. The lounge flowed with excitement, thrill and noise as students engaged in brief conversation.
Olson talked about some of the benefits that can come from attending and participating in such events. He said, “Speed dating isn’t necessarily about finding your spouse. A lot of times it’s just an opportunity to talk to people of the opposite sex, to get comfortable with that, and to gain the social skills that are necessary to live out a vocation to marriage and get there in the first place.”
“But who knows what will happen tonight?”
