By Olivia Pullinger
Valencia Voice

West Campus students came together once again on Thursday to participate in Matador Day, a celebration meant to emphasize school spirit and provide an avenue for SGA clubs to represent themselves.

Although the main draw seemed, as expected, to be the free food, Matador Day served a larger purpose for Valencia students as a whole.

“It’s all about school spirit. It makes us feel good about being Valencia West Campus. And noone does Matador Day like West Campus,” said SGA President TJ Cole. “Also, we’re trying to make sure everyone is aware of the elections. Last night we hosted a debate night, and now today is kind of tying everything up together.”

Many students took the opportunity to escape from the stress and strain of the school day. “It’s nice that the organizations are doing this for the students,” said student Linda Jean-Jaques. “It’s actually fun and entertaining and helps to relax us.”

Although there wasn’t much time for relaxing according to those involved in the preparation of Matador Day, their hard work paid off.

“There was alot of preparation involved in setting up the event. We had to get all of the t-shirts, we arranged to have a recording booth where you can sing and record your own CD, and also a body and face painting tent,” Said Nick Law. “The main thing is just to get all of the clubs together and let everyone know what we’re doing, and so far it’s been a huge success.”

Judging by the smiling faces in the crowd of students attending Matador Day, a success is just what it was. Many students appreciated the social aspect of the event, taking the opportunity to bond with fellow students.

“Our favorite part of today has just been meeting so many new people at Valencia that we’ve never met before and expanding our social lives at Valencia,” said students Alanna Jackson and Cordell Charles. Another student named Raihaan Khattak said: “The free food and recording studio are great, but I also think it’s great that so many people are all coming together and having fun.”

With no sports teams to call our own, no school colors, and, until Thursday, a mascot that many students were not aware of, school spirit is a concept that has been long absent for many Valencia students. However, with its t-shirts that boast Valencia’s name, free food, and countless activites, Matador Day remains one of the few events that accomplishes the goal of bringing students together through a college-wide celebration of our school spirit.