Students fill the chapel steps watching BSU’s Pop the Balloon event. @CAPTURED_BYJT / INSTAGRAM
Laili Shahrestani & Barbara Vasquez, Editors-in-Chief
The Black Student Union (BSU) at Manhattan University (MU) held a “pop the balloon” event this past Wednesday, April 15, drawing a large crowd to the campus quad.
This event takes after the “Pop the Balloon or Find Love” gameshow, originally posted on Youtube, which has blown up in popularity across social media in the recent year. The premise of the show involves a single contestant meeting a panel of other singles, who hold a balloon and a needle. After asking introductory questions, the panel has the chance to pop their balloon if they are uninterested in the contestant, and vice versa.
During BSU’s event, students volunteered to participate, with the top two couples getting the chance to win $30 gift cards to local restaurants Salvatores of Soho and Yo-Burger. The game lasted four rounds, with the student-packed chapel steps serving as the live audience for the game.
Raya Caamano, a junior and the co-president of BSU spoke about the decision to spend $60 total on prizes for the event, and how these gifts were chosen.
“We actually were toying with it at first,” Caamano said. “And we were like ‘no not at all, we shouldn’t waste our money on this.’ But then we started thinking about how to draw in more people, and how to spend our budget, and realized what’s better than bringing [and incentivizing] people to [come to] an event? And honestly over half the people didn’t even get a prize, and they still showed up.”
The participants The Quadrangle spoke to listed a number of different reasons for attending the event. For freshman marketing major Kimmy Stober, attending was about her involvement within the campus community.
“I found out [about the event] by Instagram, and I wanted to be more a part of my community,” said Stober.
The original inspiration for the event came about through a student by the name of Isatou Gaye, who approached BSU’s senior advisor Ashlee Okunoke, and mentioned that there is a large people of color (POC) commuter population that are interested in attending BSU events. Gaye emphasized that hosting an event such as this one, out on the quad, during “regular” school hours would allow for the POC commuter population to participate.
Gaye’s recommendation did not fail, as the quad was packed with over a hundred students, both participating and observing the game. A few of these audience members volunteered to serve as participants for the game, taking a chance at finding love.
During one of the rounds, a line of women stood holding their balloons, when one man served as the contestant. Within just a few moments of beginning the game, one of the women, freshman Johlana Tatum, popped her balloon. When asked for her reasoning by the host, Tatum responded with one sentence.
“I’m gay,” Tatum said.
Additionally, in another round May Jannah, a freshman psychology major, also popped her balloon within a few seconds. She was first out of all the women to do so, in that round.
The Quadrangle spoke to Jannah more in depth, and asked her for her reasoning behind being the first in line to pop her balloon.
“If I’m going to be honest, up there I did say I have a boyfriend [for my reasoning], but it was actually because of the fact that he [the contestant] was wearing slides, which is not my cup of tea,” Jannah said.
One of the male contestants and freshman mentee for BSU, Tristan Blake, ended up finding a match through the game. He and his match ended up winning one of the $30 grand prizes, as an incentive to get the new couple to go out on a date.
However, after the event concluded, Blake mentioned that he unfortunately does not believe that he and his new couple will last in a romantic relationship.
“No, honestly she’s just one of my best friends, she’s the GOAT, that’s it,” Blake said.
The Quadrangle asked Caamano the same question, hoping to get deeper insight into if she believes any of the winning couples will last beyond the game.
“Honestly, I don’t think they will last,” Caamano said. “I really don’t. But if they do, then kudos to them.”
Stober, who Blake won the round with, shared a similar sentiment about their friendship. Instead of ‘finding love,’ she enjoyed the event for other reasons.
“I didn’t think a lot of people would come, but it was more people than I thought,” Stober said. “It was quite fun.”
The event surpassed expectations for many. Mark Haynes, junior mechanical engineering major and member of BSU, shared his reaction to the popularity of the event.
“I was not thinking that there was going to be that many people on the quad today,” Haynes said. “But again, it’s good to be seen, have some publicity and be out there.”
Haynes participated in the event and made it all the way through his round, winning it alongside one of his friends. However he shared that despite the prize, the biggest highlight of the event for him was simply having fun with his fellow students.
“My favorite moment of the event was just seeing the people there, and everyone laughing and having fun,” Haynes said. “I feel like there are so many problems within the world today, that it’s good to share some laughter.”