KofC and BIS Collab for a Successful Social Hour
On November 13, as the night began to steep with shimmering stars, the Dumb Ox bubbled as students baltered and bantered at the social hour co-hosted by the Knights of Columbus council #14872 and the Blessed Is She leadership. Joy was felt by all with swing dancing on the patio, team trivia competitions, a pool tournament for cotillion tickets and insights from two guest speakers, Senior Jacob Nalagan and Dr. Irene Alexander, associate professor of theology.
The event, planned since mid-October, was themed around dating as a Catholic and sought both to enlighten students about the best principles and practices for pursuing a vocation of marriage while also allowing students to socialize. Moreover, the clubs wished to raise awareness about the opportunities and community they offer to students and to build up their on-campus presence.
Vinny Pavese, senior business major and Grand Knight of the KofC council #14872, said, “The intent behind it was not only for the Knights of Columbus to continue making a name for themselves on campus – because we are a small organization – but it was also to partner with another wonderful club like Blessed Is She on a fun social event to get the two clubs together, kind of to build an early partnership between the two of them.” When asked about the results of the night, Vinny commented, “I’ve heard positive feedback from Blessed Is She leadership as well as from both men and women who attended the event, [saying they] had a wonderful time.”
“The event was a good mix of fun and learning, [and] combining a talk with fun activities definitely drew a good amount of people to the event,” said Liana Cross, freshman English major and attendee. She particularly lauded the event for facilitating interaction amongst upper and lower classes, as well as for the extremely enjoyable trivia game.
When asked about the night’s success, Cross said, “I would say the event was a success, particularly in regards to the choice of speaker; myself and others thought that the student speaker [Jacob Nalagan] had very insightful points about Catholic dating, and that his practical advice was genuinely helpful.” She also added, “I do think the Knights of Columbus were represented more strongly as there were more of them leading the event, and if KofC and BIS were to do another event, it would be nice to have more BIS members to talk to.”
With regard to the future of the Knights of Columbus, Pavese said, “I think it’s important for us to show that we are here as servants of the community, as well as a brotherhood, and our goal really is to build a strong Catholic brotherhood on campus.” He hopes that in the future, the knights might collaborate with clubs like the Society of Saint Joseph, the Crusaders for Life and others in order to render more service and to build up the community.