On Nov. 20, the annual Let it Snow Somewhere Else event, planned by the Utah Tech Student Association, had students so excited that they were lined up four hours before the event.
This event was held in the Gardner Ballroom, where even though the doors didn’t open until 7:30 p.m., it didn’t stop the students from showing up early to secure their Let is Snow Somewhere Else crew neck.
Students were lined up at 3 p.m., student body president Bella Estes said.
Sydney Porter, a sophomore history major from Weber, said she was there at 5 p.m., and the line was almost out of the door.
UTSA created activities where students could sit down and make a wide variety of decorations and ornaments with friends and other students. An additional activity students could participate in was writing letters. These letters are being sent to senior homes to bring joy and the Christmas spirit into their lives.
With these activities, UTSA created a Christmas environment with Christmas songs, people full of Christmas spirit and delicious pancakes that left you wanting more. The pancakes were served with maple syrup and whipped cream. They ran out of pancakes halfway through the event.
“It’s like you’re a kid again,” Gabby Gonzales, a junior digital design major from Logan, said. “Making all the cute little ornaments I used to make in elementary school.”
Dimmed lights, a projected fireplace, paper snowflakes hanging from the ceiling, Christmas lights draped around the ballroom, a Christmas tree and candles on all the tables—these decorations set the merry mood, even though it is before Thanksgiving.
The atmosphere was like a chill Christmas, Porter said.
“I started planning for this event during the summer, although I didn’t start putting everything together until eight weeks out,” Journey Catlett, a junior marketing major from Wasilla, Alaska, and director of traditions in UTSA, said. “At four weeks out, I am planning the looks, purchasing items and begin working with our lovely marketing team on how I am wanting the event to be portrayed when being presented to the student. At about two weeks out, I begin finalizing with marketing on their design they create and any last requests.”
An event this size takes many hands, and there were multiple branches of UTSA that were responsible for planning and carrying out the event. The student life branch was responsible for the event. Academics were in charge of the pancakes. The service branch was in charge of distributing the letters to the seniors. The marketing team took care of promoting the event and the crew necks. Lastly, the volunteers helped with the different sections of the event.
Catlett said: “The hardest part about planning any event for me personally is figuring out how I want to budget certain things… How much money I want to put towards food, how much I want to put towards the decorations, the craft. So, figuring all that out was the hardest part, but I’m stoked about how it came together.”
To figure out a budget, Catlett converses with her adviser, and they figure out the number of students they hope to serve at the event. The last thing that goes into the budget is the decorations since they can be made and reused.
The event left students with happy memories, new friendships and gratitude that comes from serving other people.
Catlett said: “My favorite part is getting to see all the friends together and laughing and enjoying… It was really sweet to see how many people participated.”
