A blast from the past: Wesley goes retro during 80s Week

By Kelly Morgan (Staff Writer)

Overview

From Sept. 14th to the 19th, the Student Activities Board sponsored 80’s Week.
The week started off with a fun Hawaiian vibe from the Maui Wowi Hawaiian Smoothie Vender in the College Center lobby.
On Tuesday, students and staff slipped on their roller skates and spent time at the Dover Skating Center.
The Student Activities Board teamed up with Howl at the Moon to present the first Open Mic Nite on Wednesday.
The 1987 movie Dirty Dancing was shown on Thursday, a tribute to the late Patrick Swayze.
As the weekend rolled around, a cookout was held in the amphitheater and on Saturday an 80’s Flashback dance was held in Wesley West.

Hawaiian Smoothies

“Aloha,” greeted Christian Matthews, the vender at the Maui Wowi Hawaiian stand, greeting students lined up for their free smoothies.

The smoothie booth was decorated in colorful flowers, bamboo and bananas to provide a real Hawaiian atmosphere.

Students could be seen all over campus with their free, colorful smoothies, complete with a small umbrella sticking out of the top.

Wesley students loved the different flavors.

“I have pina colada mixed with strawberry and mango,” said freshman Marcel Bright.

Freshman Renard Lewis enjoyed the free novelties.

“I like it,” he said. “As long as it keeps coming, I’ll keep coming.”

Along with the friendly Hawaiian greeting, Matthews always presented students with their smoothie by saying, “Mahalo.”

“I also have a job at a pizza parlor, and sometimes, I slip up by saying ‘Mahalo’ as I hand the customer their purchase, which is obviously not a smoothie,” he said.

A total of 400 servings were given out to excited students throughout the day.

Roller Skating

By the time Tuesday rolled around, students were having fun at the Dover Skating Center from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.

A disco ball was shimmering throughout the night at the skating rink. Sixty-three students attended the event.

Lots of students enjoyed skating and getting in touch with a part of their childhood.
“I’ve skated all my life,” said Toniera Gibson, a sophomore. “I started when I was 6-years-old.”

Sophomore Fabrice Lohier was enjoying his birthday at the rink.

“I started skating when I was 13-years-old,” he said. “I’m a little rusty now.”

A majority of young college students did not grow up in the 80’s. What comes to students’ minds when they think of the 80’s and will it ever return “from the dead?”

“I think of the Afro look,” said Lohier. “The style was nice and funky. It will come back, but slowly, very slowly.”
Gibson thinks the style of the 80’s is cute.

“I think of leg warmers, shoulder shirts and hair bands,” she said.

Beth Fisher, director of Student Life, shared her thought on the 80’s.

“I have good memories of my pre-teen years,” Fisher said. “I remember Care Bears, My Little Pony, Thunder Cats, Rainbow Bright and my favorite song, ‘Take On Me’ by A-ha.

Nikita Beck favors the style of the 80’s compared to today’s styles.

“The 80’s: you can express yourself more and no one had anything to say about it,” she said. “Today, you have to fit in with a popular culture. You have to keep up with the best hair and clothing. If you don’t, you’ll be classified as an outcast.”

Open Mic Nite

The first Open Mic Nite, sponsored by Howl at the Moon, was held in CC 206 on Wednesday, September 16th.

The jazzy, club-like atmosphere set the tone for emotional poetry and vocals.

A spotlight, centered on the stage, was the main source of light in the otherwise dimly-lit room. Refreshments were set-up in the back of the room, including drinks, wrap slices and cookies.

The tables were packed. There was a turnout of about 80 students.

Hostess Chardiney Wood, kept the crowd under control by enforcing the “no booing” rule and introducing every performer.

Freshman Juan Medina led the performers with an emotional, self-written poem titled “Life.” He later made many of the females in the crowd say “aww” with his heartfelt poem, “A Smile.”

Junior Antonique Vinson performed Alicia Keys’ hit song, “If I Ain’t Got You.”

Freshman Elisa Fermin read her poem, “When The Truth Comes Out.” The emotional and symbolic poem, dedicated to all of the women in the audience, stirred up lots of audience interaction.

Senior Richa’d Johnson read a handful of poems including “Poetry” and “The World Through His Eyes.”

Debbie Witte, a senior, sang three older hits, including Shania Twain’s “You Don’t Impress Me Much,” Bette Midler’s “In These Shoes,” and dedicated Patrick Swayze’s “She’s Like The Wind” to his success throughout the years.

Witte has a lot of experience singing.

“There’s always the occasional singing in the car,” she said. “But I have been singing since I was seven years old.”

The performance that brought down the house was by freshman Brittany Mears. She sang her heart out with audience members, singing along to every word. People waved their hands, clapped and snapped along. Her performance was ended with a standing ovation from the audience.

After the scheduled acts, students hopped on stage to show off their comedic side with songs from The Backstreet Boys and Boyz II Men.

BBQ Cookout

On Thursday, Sept. 17, instead of dinner in Dulany Hall, there was a cookout in the amphitheater.

Circular tables sat atop the grass as students ate barbequed foods, including hamburgers and hot dogs. Italian ices were available, as was a station for students to have custom license plate stickers made for them.

A DJ at the cookout played current popular songs for students to enjoy.

“The food at these cookouts is usually pretty decent,” said Justin Rhodes, a Media Arts senior. “But they usually have more than this.”

Overall, students seemed to enjoy themselves at the cookout, though some of them did not like the fact that they had no choice but to eat outside.

80s Dance at Wesley West

On Saturday, Sept. 19, the 80’s Flashback Dance was held in the Wesley West Gymnasium.

Eric “DJ E-Legal” Holden and Darius “Tenacious The Tablist” Godwin provided the music, which was a mix of various popular Hip-Hop and Dance songs.

Although students slowly trickled into the gymnasium, which was lit only by a strobe light at the DJ’s table, within 30 minutes the dance floor was packed.

Unfortunately, a fight broke out at around 11 p.m. The fight quickly moved into the street outside of Wesley West.

“[This] resulted in three to four other fights,” said director of safety and security Walt Beaupre.

Dover police were called for assistance and the dance ended.

“We probably had six cars up there,” Lt. Paul Bernat of the Dover Police Department said, when they showed up at about 11:30 p.m.

“Some individuals were fighting in the street as the crowd moved down Mary Street towards the main campus,” Beaupre said. “The crowd was dispersed once they reached the main campus by Wesley security and Dover Police.”

No arrests or injuries were reported.