White tents, food stands, blue-and-gold balloons and clubs with enthusiastic members lined up along 7th Street Plaza on Monday afternoon to introduce San José State University students to the Spring Semester during a Weeks of Welcome Street Festival.
The festival is a part of the Spring 2024 Weeks of Welcome, a series of over 130 SJSU events open to its enrolled students, and takes place between Wednesday, Jan. 24 through Friday, March 8, according to the SJSU website.
The event was held to give students a chance to connect with campus organizations, grab free food from local vendors and enjoy free activities, according to the SJSU website.
The activities included an airbrush tattoo station, a face-painting station and a photobooth, with paper-props students could use to spruce up their photos with one another.
SJSU Cares, SJSU Graduate Programs and Associated Students were a few of the many organizations set up on the street. Students were given free tote bags featuring the names of the organizations.
Some students picked up free drinks from the stands at the event, including Honey Lavender Lattes,Celebration Lattes, which are made with cake batter syrup and oat milk, and Banana Chai Lattes provided by Nirvana Soul.
Founded by sisters Jeronica Macey and Be’Anka Ashaolu, Nirvana Soul’s is a local coffee shop whose mission is to bring people together using the power of coffee and tea, according to its website.
Data analytics graduate student Thi Thao Tien Tran, said she picked up an iced Banana Chai Latte and absolutely loved it, making it worth the 30-minute wait behind dozens of students.
Tran also said she enjoyed the crowd and overall vibe of the street festival, making her comfortable interacting with others.
“Everyone is super friendly and I love that I can go up to random people at different stalls or in lines, and start a conversation with them,” Tran said.
Sammy G’s Pizzeria set up a tent in front of the Art & Design Building where employees handed out slices of pizza to students.
Engineering technology sophomore Tadeáš Horn said although he did not get a chance to eat the pizza, he enjoyed getting free stickers given by the different tents, and food from the Habana Cuba truck.
“I really enjoyed the beef tamales, talking to Matt from the Community Garden and finding out how many veterans go to SJSU,” Horn said.
The SJSU Campus Community Garden was established as a result of a student-led initiative in 2014, according to the SJSU website. The garden was created to provide students with a space to access healthy food, learn about sustainable and organic gardening practices and earn hours, according to the same site.
Software engineering graduate student Pravin Ramasamy Balachandran said he loves getting to see both new and old faces during street festivals.
“Not only do we get free food, coffee and T-shirts, but we get to interact with the clubs and organizations,” Balachandran said. “This is why I always look forward to Weeks of Welcome.”
Behavioral sciences junior Ayesha Haroon said she doesn’t really care about the free stuff.
Haroon said the most important part of Weeks of Welcome is meeting up with her friends and spending time with people she hasn’t seen in awhile.
“It’s the perfect opportunity to hang out, and start up a conversation,” Haroon said.
Haroon said she loves bonding with new people during events like these, and walking around the tents to learn about different parts of campus.
Aviation senior Ashley Lin said her favorite part about the festival, aside from picking up free putty from SJSU’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, was learning about the different organizations and options on campus available to students.
“SJSU is a commuter school and sometimes it feels like there’s no campus culture so when we have events like this, it gives more people the chance to learn about the school,” Lin said. “It also gives resources to students who wouldn’t have known about them otherwise.”
