By Gabriella Cavaleri, Staff Writer
On Thursday, Oct. 27, a new group on campus, The Shark Social Group, collaborated with The Center for Healthy Living to host their Halloween-themed kick-off event.
Various students showed up in costume ready to play the “haunting” board game “Betrayal at the House on the Hill.”
This event served as an opportunity for students to mingle while simultaneously learning lessons on combating social anxiety. Staff from The Center for Healthy Living joined students to talk about how intimidating socialization could be.
The director for the Center for Healthy Living, Dawn Loshigian, is overjoyed to be working with the Shark Social Group.
“I’m beyond excited, to watch everyone play this interesting and spooky game is really cool,” Loshigian said.
“Part of college life is more than just academics. It’s about experiences. It’s about fun, it’s about connecting with other people. It’s important for students to engage,” Loshigian said.
The mission of The Shark Social Group is to increase group socialization for both commuters and students that live on campus. The group also prioritizes mental health and aims to help people overcome their anxieties. The Shark Social Group hopes to become a safe space on campus
This is a very personal project for the co-founder and sophomore health science major, Alexa Rivas, who’s a commuter student with anxiety.
Rivas has her own fears when it comes to socializing but she’s making great strides to help students with similar struggles.
“There’s a lot of commuters on campus who don’t get a chance to come to a lot of events. It’s definitely important to have people meet each other and to help people out,” Rivas said.
Many future events will be in collaboration with The Center for Healthy Living.
“I’m hoping to do a lot of things that pertain to mental health, so The Center for Healthy Living is a big part of it,” Rivas said.
Although there wasn’t time during common hour to finish the lengthy game of “Betrayal at the House on the Hill,” the fact students showed up and socialized is seen as a success to Rivas.
“I found this to be a fun success for our first event,” freshman political science major Aiden Litwin said.
Litwin is the co-founder of The Shark Social Group alongside Rivas. As a commuter, Litwin also struggles with the social aspect of college.
“I agree with Alexa and why this club is essential to have here,” Litwin said. “Post is a predominantly commuter community, so I feel it’s important.”
Shark Social’s next event will be held during common hour on Thursday, Nov. 17 in Hillwood Commons. They will be holding a food drive where they will be accepting nonperishable food donations.
Follow @liu.shark.social on Instagram to keep up to date on future Shark Social events.
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