San José State University’s Student Involvement hosted its fifth annual Block Party to celebrate homecoming week, featuring food trucks, homecoming shirts and entertainment booths along Seventh Street Plaza on Tuesday afternoon.
Student Involvement is a division of Student Affairs that aims to provide inclusive community engagement for students, according to its website.
Event stations such as an airbrush tattoo station, a video game truck, a 360-degree photo booth, inflatable basketball hoops and soccer darts were set up along Seventh Street for students to participate in.
Jess Prudent, campus programming coordinator for Student Affairs and head of the Block Party committee, said the homecoming committee is a large cross-campus committee dedicated to providing events to celebrate the homecoming week.
“The Block Party is one of the kickoffs to the homecoming week,” Prudent said. “The goal is to have a street fair kind of fest.”
Prudent said Student Involvement has historically led homecoming events with the help from the International Student and Scholar Services and the Student Union.
International Student and Scholar Services is an organization that supports international students and scholars, while contributing to the growth of SJSU’s global community and inclusivity on campus, according to its website.
“The energy here today is cool and people seem to be enjoying themselves,” said business analytics junior Malique Knox. “The downside is that the lines are long.”
All of the booths at the Block Party required students to scan a QR code with the SJSU app known as SJSU|SAMMY.
Prudent said students are expected to check in through the SAMMY app because the data collected during these events, in turn, allow Student Involvement to continue to receive funding for future events.
Nutritional science junior Emma Collett said she noticed tables being set up and invited her friend to wait in line for Luv’s Brownies, a desert food truck parked in front of the Student Wellness Center.
“The brownies are really good,” Collett said. “I did not expect them to be that good, but they were gourmet.”
Collett said despite there being long lines for the food trucks, the wait time was shorter than she expected. She said she looked forward to checking out the 360 photobooth and wanted to take pictures with her friends.
“Everything seems organized and everything is free, which makes it even better,” she said.
Business analytics junior Allyson Guan is a student leadership ambassador with Student Involvement and was in charge of advertising the event on social media.
“I would post on the Student Involvement SJSU Instagram,” Guan said. “Just doing a bit of marketing and promoting for what’s going on on Seventh Street.”
Public health junior Christian Bamba said he heard about the Block Party through an SJSU Instagram post. After checking in at one of the two shirt giveaway and information booths, he said he waited in line for both tacos and brownies.
“I like the energy here today,” Bamba said. “Everybody is out, having a good time and chatting.”
Bamba said he looked forward to getting an airbrush tattoo and exploring more of what the Block Party has to offer.
“I appreciate the free food, especially for students,” said Sabrina Macias, speech pathology graduate. “It’s very helpful because sometimes you don’t pack a lunch in the morning.”
She said the food and event tables were a needed break from studying for midterms.
Nutritional science junior Emma Ayala said she received an airbrush tattoo of a rose on her forearm and ate tacos from El Halal Amigos food truck.
“I like the music and everything is free, which makes it even better,” she said. “If I would have had to pay, I would have been hesitant, but since it’s free it’s worth it.”
