Children laughing, hamburgers sizzling and students being dunked in a water tank will all be part of the campus scene on Saturday, April 25, when Yale hosts its annual Communiversity Day.
"Discover. Learn. Play." is the theme for this year's festival, which will be held on Old Campus 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. A highlight of the event is a children's carnival, which this year will feature an inflatable slide and moon walk, pie-throwing contests, and cookie- and cake-decorating booths, among other activities. Also planned as part of Communiversity Day are performances by Yale dancing and singing groups (including Yaledancers, Red Hot & Blue and Shades) and by New Haven elementary school choruses; an exhibition of ethnic dancing by the Yale student groups A Different Drum and Kasama; a Tae Kwon Do demonstration; community exhibits; a free barbecue; and free cotton candy and popcorn.
Nearly 2,000 people are expected to attend this year's event, which is free for residents of New Haven and surrounding municipalities.
"Communiversity Day is a wonderful time for Yale students and children in the New Haven community to get together to explore our common bonds and have a good time," says Tameka Moss '00, who is the main coordinator of the event. "There are a lot of Yale students who reach out to the community through volunteer work, but what's exciting about Communiversity Day is that even students who haven't been involved in community service before are eager to take part in this fun event. It's something that is exciting for everyone."
In conjunction with Communiversity Day 1998, Jumpstart will host its second annual Children Across New Haven, a learning fair with over 30 imaginative activity areas for children aged 3-6 and their families. This event will be held 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on the New Haven Green. Jumpstart is a community service program founded by a Yale student that works to build school-readiness skills with preschoolers and kindergarteners living in low-income communities.
Started in the early 1980s as a carnival, Communiversity Day has grown to become an annual festival hosted by Yale students to celebrate the relationship between the University and its community. More than 1,500 community members attended last year's festival.
Communiversity Day 1998 is coordinated by the members of Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity, and is sponsored by Jumpstart, Dwight Hall, the Ethnic Community Race Council and the Office of New Haven Affairs.
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