UM students attend the carnival and run booths for their organizations. Photo by Jasmyne Ray.

The UM Student Government Association (SGA) hosted their first ever Carnival for a Cure on Friday, Oct. 17. This event was held on Main Quad and was open to all students, faculty and members of the community.

Campus organizations and community companies were all invited to participate in this weekend event by setting up a booth and by ensuring that all profits went to SGA for cancer research.

With more than 21 booths, patrons were invited to buy tickets at 10 cents each and use them at each booth. Some booths required only one ticket, while some required as many as five tickets. Each booth was unique, with some inviting ticket holders to play cornhole, jump in a moonwalk, flip a rubber ducky, get their face painted, pose in costume for a photo booth, enjoy baked goods or grilled hamburgers and more.

“SGA wanted to do something for a good cause and have something fun for students to participate in, so they chose a carnival to raise money for cancer research,” said Jenny Bell, Director of Student Life.

This is SGA’s second W.O.W. (or What’s on this Weekend) event and SGA President Tanya Hoang is pleased with how many people showed up in support. With a showing of more than 200 people, Hoang said, “I am just really glad people from the community and people from school came together to make this happen.”

Many faculty and community members brought their children to play at the carnival and were able to win candy for prizes if they won certain games. Destiny White, a senior at Montevallo, was walking around with a bag filled with brochures and candy. When asked how she was enjoying the carnival, White said “I’m just buying a lot of candy.” Junior Sara Holley said, “I have never seen campus life show up like this on a weekend. It’s great to see my fellow students show up and have fun for such a worthy cause.”