Students got to spend a night with the fish at this year’s GT Night at the Aquarium. The event was co-hosted by the RHA, SGA and Student Center Programs Council’s (SCPC) new Atlanta Life committee.
“This was our second year doing the event. Last year we were clueless about what would happen but this year we knew about what was going on. The biggest wrench was working with new people within both organizations,” said Elliot Mork, third-year AE major and president of RHA.
Although in the same location, the event featured a plethora of changes and additions. While the price increased from $7 for all entrants to $8 for the first 2000 students ($14 after the first 2000), the nights exhibits included free admission to the Planet Shark and Ocean Voyager exhibits, behind-the-scenes tours and vocal performances from Nothin’ but Treble, the Sympathetic Vibrations and the men’s glee club.
“I thought the price was more than fair, definitely a bargain if you’re going to compare to the normal price admission,” said Simon Turgeon, second-year ARCH major.
“The aquarium had a double booking that night and so that’s why we got backstage passes to the Ocean Voyager exhibit, which was closed for the first hour and a half. If they [students] came within the first hour and a half you got to see the voyager exhibit from the back,” Mork said.
In addition, RHA coordinated scavenger hunts and trivia throughout the night. An estimated 2300 students were said to be in attendence at the event, a slight drop from last year.
“We were kind of worried about attendance this time. We knew we had lots of people last year,” Mork said.
What differed most between this year and last year’s events was the planning of the aquarium night, with the participation of the SCPC’s Atlanta Life committee. The event was previously organized by the Arts committee of SCPC, yet this year’s Night of the Aquarium marked the first event of the newly created Atlanta Life committee.
“All of the off campus events were initially scattered about different committees and different organizations so the Atlanta life committee brings all the off campus events into one committee like the Aquarium, Six Flags night, if we were to do Buzz around World of Coke that would have been our program,” said Paul Brideau, second-year ME major and chair of the Atlanta Life committee. “The purpose of the committee was to combine it all into one with a single goal to get them to experience life outside of campus.”
With the new committee, the group brought a new perspective to the event.
“It’s always a great pleasure to cosponsor an event with other organizations. When you combine forces you end up with a higher quality event than if you do it alone. Everyone brings something to the table. When you combine all those ideas and plan together it really brings out the best in all parties involved,” Brideau said.