The Ferris State Center for Student Involvement and Entertainment Unlimited hosted a homecoming bonfire on Friday, Oct. 4 at the south athletic fields.
CSI and Entertainment Unlimited hosts a bonfire every year as a part of their list of homecoming events. The bonfire showed a turnout of Ferris students and visitors alike, with a variety of games, music and foods for all to enjoy.
Advisor for Entertainment Unlimited and activities coordinator at CSI Ben Avery believes that the bonfire gives a more relaxing opportunity for students to socialize compared to other events like the comedy show and the dodgeball game.
“We hope to provide a little bit of everything for all of our students with different tastes and different preferences,” Avery said. “This is just a great opportunity to relax, and enjoy some good food and some live music.”
Entertainment Unlimited and CSI made a few changes to this year’s bonfire, including changing the location to the south athletic fields from the David L. Eisler Center parking lot and shifting to live music. Avery thinks that this changed the environment of the event and helped promote student involvement by making the location more accessible and being able to form connections to the music with live artists, which were an indie-folk duo called Stanley and Quiggle.
Criminal justice freshman Yena Porter came to the bonfire, not only to support her brother, who is Jamie Quiggle from Stanley and Quiggle, but also to go out for something fun instead of just for classes. She thinks that events like this are a great opportunity to meet new people and make friends that could last for years because of the various activities available at the bonfire to bond over.
“It’s easy to meet people because there’s a lot of different activities going on,” Porter said. “So, if you’re by yourself and you want to play corn-hole, you could play and meet other people.”
The programming coordinator for Entertainment Unlimited is a sophomore in the music and entertainment business Alex Rineer. She played a large role in finding the artists for the event. Rineer believes this year’s homecoming bonfire brings a laidback environment where students can come and stop by, listen to music and lay a blanket with friends.
“I feel like we’re more in nature and we’re not all standing on the pavement,” Rineer said. “Especially with the band, because it’s live music, and we can interact with it more and kind of it get a sense of who they are.”
Students around campus came to the bonfire to hang out with their friends, get some free s’mores, and even participate in different yard games ranging from cornhole, spike ball and participants even played catch with footballs. On the field, there were not only Ferris students but friends of Ferris students, coming to hang out with them and enjoy the homecoming weekend.
Rachel Levere was one of the visitors who came for homecoming weekend to hang out with her Ferris friends at the bonfire. She thinks that it was a great event to come and see what Ferris is all about because of the games, events and various foods that come out for homecoming.
“I have a few friends that go here and it’s a great time,” Levere said. “The food and the games are all good, and cornhole never gets old.”
The Center for Student Involvement and Entertainment Unlimited hosts events throughout the year and will continue to host different activities that are designated to engage the entire student population.