This year has been difficult, but the students who are a part of the UniPlace Community Service Registered Student Organization (RSO) still found a way to celebrate the holidays together! Last year we gathered in Paige Hall for a Christmas movie night. We watched Elf, danced to Christmas songs, ate popcorn, ordered pizza, and even brought air mattresses and blankets to make it comfortable! You’ll see a picture from that night on the left. I am sure there are many faces you’ll recognize in the group. Most of those students have now graduated from UIUC with their undergraduate degrees. Luckily, for this year’s zoom party, we had many of the RSO graduates join us again!
This year we knew that our party would have to be virtual to ensure everyone’s safety, but we wanted to bring the same joy felt last year to this years party. That’s when Sierra, an exec board member of the RSO, and I got together to make care-packages for everyone coming to the party. It was so nice finding an opportunity to work beside a student in-person for the party. What’s even more incredible is that we experienced a Christmas miracle — every package was delivered in time for the party!
At the party itself, the students had an incredible time! We took photos with Christmas-props, wrote letters to essential workers at Cunningham Children’s home, played games, and learned about each other’s holiday traditions. It was a wonderful moment to remember that, even though we are far away from each other, there is still so much to celebrate in having this incredible community.
Merry Christmas from Jessi and the UniPals:
