Love filled the air in the Crimson View Restaurant on Wednesday night as singles chatted over refreshments and tried to find true love, or perhaps just a date for Valentine’s Day.
Speed Dating, put on by the Union Programming Council’s Innovation Board, was hosted in the hopes that students would enjoy a fun and new experience, said Derek Deitsch, director of the board and a senior in marketing.
“UPC really tries to do new things that students wouldn’t normally be doing,” Deitsch said. He hopes students “can cross something off their bucket list.”
Erik Tita, a freshman in business management, said he came to the event to participate in the light-hearted event.
“Anyone expecting to find true love is far too desperate,” Tita said.
Juliet Demars, a sophomore in theatre studies, said she just wanted to have fun.
“I don’t get out much, so I just thought this would be a good time,” Demars said.
The event started at 6 p.m. Participants sat at tables decked in red, pink and white hearts and chatted with the person seated across from them for two minutes. When time ran out, the men rotated to the next table. Participants were given sheets to keep track of what suitors they wanted see again.
Demars said she asked her potential love interests basic questions, like where they were from, what they were majoring in and where they hope to travel.
Deitsch said this event did not cater to those of other sexual orientations besides heterosexual.
“Because of logistics, we can’t integrate both groups into one speed dating event,” Deitsch said. He also said if anyone within the LGBT community reached out to UPC, they “would be more than willing to program towards that group.”
Last year, the event had over 70 students participate, and Deitsch said they were turning people away at the door.
“We just wanted to try the event again this year, since last year was such a success,” he said.
This year, while there were about 30 students inside by 6 p.m., there were male students that had to wait outside for more female students to sign up. For the event to work, there had to be an even number of boys and girls participating.
By the time the event started, all the men had been let inside, but about five men were left out of each rotation for a time in the “bromance area.”
Demars said she did not find anyone she wanted to date, but she had fun talking to everyone.
For Tita, the most important question he asked girls was what their favorite flavor of jelly bean is.
“It was a good time,” Tita said. “There were some people I would be down to see again.”
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