Dorms host Campus Carnival to bring festivities to quad

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Dorms host Campus Carnival to bring festivities to quad
The Benzing girls pose with Jenny the goat. Courtesy | Virginia Aabram

Benzing Residence and the Suites are partnering to bring a carnival to the quad this Friday, from 3 – 6 p.m. 

The Campus Carnival will feature state fair-like entertainment, including snow cones, corn dogs, a petting zoo, and carnival games, according to Abbie Patrick, Benzing’s head resident assistant. 

“People should come to this event because it’s going to be right on the quad, there’s going to be free food, there’s going to be snow cones, and you get to pet some really cute animals,” Patrick said. 

The idea for the event originated last fall, when sophomore Lana Hooper, a Benzing resident who works on several farms in the Hillsdale area, brought a goat to the trunk-or-treat Halloween event at the sports complex. 

“The goat’s name was Jenny, and we all fell in love with her,” Patrick said. “Lana told us recently that Jenny had babies, so we thought it would be really fun to come full circle and do an event with Jenny and her kids.”

Jenny the goat and her babies will be accompanied by numerous other animals, including bunnies, chicks, alpacas, and a lamb, courtesy of Hooper’s farm connections. 

Hooper, who runs her own horse training business, made friends with a local family who is letting the women share the animals with campus.

“I wanted to share some of the new babies with the dorm and the Benzing leadership created an entire event so we can share even more animals with more people, like baby goats, a loud baby lamb, bunnies chicks and more,” Hooper said. “Who doesn’t need some time with animals right before finals?”

Benzing House Director Jolene Estruth said that she hopes the event will bring some joy to students during a stressful time in the semester.

“We hope that Campus Carnival provides an opportunity for friends to gather and enjoy both the familiar and the new,” Estruth said. “This is a busy and often chaotic time in the semester for everyone, but hopefully the carnival, in its business and chaos, reminds everyone of the joy and laughter that comes specifically and uniquely from the crazy times in life. Even as we rush to the end, we can still slow down and take time to enjoy the busy and the chaotic. And petting alpacas doesn’t hurt either.”