Pakistani Students’ Association (PSA) and guard.me campus ambassadors kicked off 2019 with a successful Winter Welcome event on January 18th. The event was free, open for all and a perfect example of inclusivity and student unity, attracting both Pakistani and non-Pakistani students alike, whose zeal and enthusiasm were nothing but contagious.
The event started off with the National Anthem of Pakistan, followed by the introduction of the organisers. PSA is a student organization at Memorial University whose mission is to create awareness amongst students at MUN about the culture of Pakistan, using events, sports, and festive celebrations. In light of its astounding efforts, PSA was awarded the best Society of the Year 2018 at International Student Recognition Awards (ISRA). guard.me campus ambassadors, the co-organisers for the event, have collaborated with several other student organisations in the past, including the Internationalization Office (IO), Indian Youth Association (IYA), and Nigerian Students’ Association (NSA).
PSA has its annual elections at the beginning of every year. As announced in the welcome week event, the nominations for PSA general elections 2019 are now open.
PSA has also started an initiative to contribute to the crowdfunding for construction of water reservoirs in Pakistan. To help with their efforts, they asked the audience for a generous contribution to the Dam Fund. Ahsan Kaleem, vice president of PSA, commented,
Along with having fun, PSA is also aware of its social responsibilities. PSA has started an initiative to collect dam funds to better water supply in Pakistan and we strongly urge everyone to contribute!
After the presentation ended, the exciting part of the evening started: the games.
To get everyone to know each other, the games started with two truths and one lie. Participants had to write down, as the name suggests, two truths and one lie about themselves on a piece of paper, fold it into a plane and throw it. They were asked to pick up a random paper plane, find that person and figure out the lie.
After having a brief mixer, it was time for Rooh Afza pong. The game is like beer pong but the cups are filled with Rooh Afza, a famous Pakistani drink. It was an arcade style game, with the person scoring the highest, winning the tournament.
The highlight of the evening, however, was the Scavenger Hunt. The participants formed six teams and had to finish all the tasks on the list within 30 minutes and post it on Instagram with #PSAWinterWelcome19. The level of creativity in each and every post was astounding and everyone had a good laugh. Mesam Timmar, the external affairs and communications coordinator for PSA remarked,
The energy level of all the students at the games was astonishing!
The winners of all these games received gift vouchers sponsored by guard.me.
After games, Pakistani dishes were served for dinner.The menu included Vegetable Rice, Chicken Korma, and Chickpea curry for main course, and Rasmalai and Rooh Afza for dessert. The event concluded with musical chairs followed by the announcement of the Scavenger Hunt winners.
PSA organises exciting events every month, full of entertainment and spiced up with Pakistani dishes for all MUN students. They can be reached at fb.com/psamun14 for more details.
