This weekend is the last before Thanksgiving Break. Before students rush home to stuff themselves with turkey and pumpkin pie, UNF’s Conscious Organization is giving everyone a chance for some togetherness on campus.
Kyle Reeder, a UNF civil engineering senior and the club’s president, is looking forward to the club’s first Conscious Celebration.
“It’s a humanitarian, environmental and philosophical gathering — to create a cross-cultural, multidimensional common ground for humans sharing time together,” Reeder said.
The event will include discussion groups, similar to those held at the club’s meetings, with topics such as Defining Unity, The Consensus on Smiling and Radiating Happiness.
Mark McCombs, a UNF mechanical engineering senior and Conscious Club member, said he is excited about the musical possibilities a larger group of people could present. There will be a drum circle and jam sessions. People attending are encouraged to bring instruments.
“Anything they can bring to add to the aural vibe,” McCombs said, in between serenading students in the Library Starbucks with a colorfully painted guitar. “We want this to be a giant amorphous wad of acoustic energy.”
If possible, attendees should bring clothing or nonperishable food items to be donated to local charities. The club plans to provide hot drinks at the event, such as coffee, hot chocolate and cider.
The overall vibe of the day will be laid-back and all-inclusive; it’s free and open to the community, Reeder said. He appreciates any way students can positively contribute to the celebration.
He said the club hopes to reach more students with this event than it can at weekly meetings, and member Alee Heaston, a music-loving English freshman with distinctive blue dreads, agrees.
“This weekend, we’d love to see a lot of people, a lot of new faces that haven’t been involved before.”
The club, based on good energy, has been a wonderful way for her to meet new people, she said.
“It’s a really cool club; it’s a lot of like-minded people with similar, good things to talk about,” Heaston said. “It’s all about making a positive difference and impact on our planet and the people in it.”
McCombs said he is thankful for the club’s positive outlook because it helped him through tough times.
“I’ve been experiencing new things at an exponential rate,” he said. “I’ve met people who have wonderful ideas of their own about life.”
The Conscious Celebration should allow people to experience those positive effects of the club and hopefully encourage them to be a member, Reeder said.
The Conscious Celebration will take place on the Green Saturday, Nov. 20 from 12-7 p.m.
The organization meets Wednesdays on the Green or in Bldg. 2, room 2222, around 6 or 7 p.m. E-mail conscioushands.unf@gmail.com to be added to the group’s mailing list and receive updates about the meetings.
