Like every year, staff at NIU Student Involvement & Leadership Development have spent months preparing to welcome students to campus this fall.
This year’s menu features a new series of events known as “Bark ‘til Dark” (BTD).
“The calendar of events has been scheduled for months and students can now plan ahead and stay on campus for some amazing free or low-cost events every Thursday, Friday and Saturday for the first five weeks of the semester,” said Jill Zambito, director of Student Involvement & Leadership Development.
Events include last week’s Glow in the Dark dance party, laser tag (Friday, Sept. 21) and Cinema in Central, where popular films will be viewed weekly in Central Park on a large outdoor screen.
This week’s schedule begins at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30, with Cinema in Central’s screening of “Think Like a Man.”
From 4 to 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 31, students are invited to the east side of Huskie Stadium for “Huskies Send Off to Showdown III.” That football game kicks off at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 1, at Chicago’s Soldier Field.
“We want to provide students with a calendar of events at the start of the semester so that they can plan ahead and select which events they would like to attend before their schedules become too busy,” Zambito said. “Additionally, we would like to give students even more reasons to stay on campus and enjoy the community and get even more excited to get involved with their campus community.”
Schedules of the remaining weeks of “Bark ‘til Dark,” which continues through the end of September, are available online.
Bark ‘til Dark could not have come together without the collaborative efforts of many campus entities, Zambito said.
“The Bark ’til Dark initiative is being supported by a number of student organizations and departments. Specifically, the Campus Activities Board and the Residence Hall Association are taking the lead on the events involved with BTD,” she said. “This initiative would not have been possible without the support of the student leaders and staff advisers of those organizations.”
For more information, call (815) 753-1421 or email studentinvolvement@niu.edu.
by Constance Ervins
