The Board opens the page to a new event: Blind Date with a Book.
This event took place at Upper Mullin Town Square on Oct. 25. This idea had been in the works since The Board’s August retreat, when Board Event Planner Kyla Randle said she suggested hosting an event along the lines of a book fair.
“I was thinking elementary Scholastic book fair and our supervisor Lou [assistant director of student activities] was like, I was waiting for someone to say that one,” Randle said.
The event had 130 attendees, according to the Campus Groups event post.
The quantity of participants caused the event to run out of books, Randle said.
“I’m actually like blown away,” Randle said. “We only ordered 50 books and I didn’t expect it to be this many people that were interested in reading outside of class.”
Each book was wrapped in parchment paper and had a few stickers and a highlighter tucked into the folds. With each wrapped book came a description, to help students make their selection.
“She [Randle’s partner] was amazing at it [coming up with the book descriptions],” Randle said.”She was like, ‘I’ve read 80 percent of these books.'”
However, there were other activities for those who didn’t manage to snag a book before they ran out.
The Board employees set up tables along Upper Mullin Town Square and stocked each table with craft activities, such as designing your own bookmark and coloring an array of coloring pages.
“We wanted to do something that was relaxing,” Randle said. “Coloring, I love to color in my free time. That’s a relaxation thing.”
There were also different flavors of boba tea for all attendees and a raffle for a blanket and $15 Caffe Luxxe gift card, according to The Board instagram post.
To enter into the raffle for the blanket and gift card package, attendees were encouraged to write their favorite book recommendations on a poster. The winner was drawn from the recommendation entries.
Student Feedback
Senior Sharky Smalling said she was excited by the opportunity to grab a free book.
“I’m an avid reader and I would never pass the chance for a free book,” Smalling said.
Smalling decided to come to the event to hang out with her fellow book reading friends, she said.
Smalling said she is excited to dive into her new book.
“I don’t know this author personally, but so far two people have said they absolutely adore her, so I am very excited about reading it,” Smalling said.
Senior Elizabeth Starkey said she wanted to come to the event due to her love of books.
The book Starkey chose was something she was hoping to read, Starkey said.
“This has been on my TBR [to be read] for a long time, so I’m really happy about this,” Starkey said.
The Board hopes to host another Blind Date with a Book event next semester, where more people will have the opportunity to get a book, Randle said.
_______________
Follow the Graphic on X: @PeppGraphic
Contact Mackenzie Krause via email: mackenzie.krause@pepperdine.edu
