Students danced their way to the Student Union Building ballroom Saturday for the first ever Palouse Ball, hosted by College of Natural Resources’ Student Affairs Council.
All majors were welcome to join the night filled with fun, dancing and activities, said Pierce Beigh, president of SAC.
“This is the first time we’ve done the Palouse Ball, and we hope it will end up being an annual event,” Beigh said.
CNR director of student services Heather Page said the members of SAC have been working hard to achieve their goal of creating a better bond with the clubs and students within CNR as well as the rest of the University of Idaho student body.
“We wanted to produce a fun atmosphere centered on dancing, refreshments and activities all in one, kind of like a carnival,” Page said. “By attending, the student body can discover what CNR has to offer and create connections with other students who attend.”
The entire production was student planned and driven, Page said.
Beigh said they got the idea from the University of Montana’s annual Forester’s Ball, which is a collaborative scholarship fundraiser event.
The Palouse Ball featured all different kinds of dance music, including swing dance, Beigh said.
As president of SAC, Beigh said his job is to maintain good communication between CNR students and faculty. He said adding an activity such as the Palouse Ball, which is open to all colleges, gives everyone a chance to get to know different people.
“They get the opportunity to meet new friends through a different event and have a lot of fun,” he said.
Beigh said the money generated from the Palouse Ball would help to unite CNR and SAC as a whole, while socializing with students from the various colleges at UI. It will also fund a better Palouse Ball for next year.
Christina Leid, member of SAC, helped advertise for the ball around campus. She said SAC hopes to turn this into an annual event and eventually involve the Moscow community together with the students for a collaborative event.
“Our goal is to reach out to the student body and get people to meet students from different colleges other than their own,” Leid said.
Beigh said everything came together at the first Palouse Ball, Weather interruptions hurt attendance because people did not want to drive, but other than that it was a fun-filled night on the Palouse, Beigh said. Next year the SAC and CNR plan to get other colleges involved to attract a wider student.