Students, faculty celebrate university at Winter Ball

Walter Chidozie Anyanwu, Contributing Writer

Students and faculty dressed to a T for the 15th annual MCV Winter Ball Jan. 26 at Main Street Station, which brought students and faculty together for a night of music, dancing and food.

Held by the Student Government Association, the ball was slated to begin at 8 p.m. and go on until 1 a.m. the next day. Attendees arrived in crowds, and at about 9:30 p.m., the ball started to take off.

Previous Winter Balls have been held in hotels and other similar spaces. But this year, the organizers sought to bring guests together under one space that would accommodate them comfortably. The recently renovated Main Street Station was the place to do it.

“What we wanted to do is have an open space that allows students to be engaged all together,” said David Greene, director of the University Student Commons and Activities, “and this historic building is a great place for that to happen.”  

Greene said the aim of holding the ball at Main Street Station was to avoid having the guests separated into different sections as they would be in an hotel. The grand terminal of the station provided both the glamour and atmosphere that took the event to the next level.

Originally billed as the “MCV Winter Ball,” the event was open to every VCU student who wanted to attend. Green said the goal of the 15-year tradition is to celebrate students. Its origins on the MCV campus give it the name “MCV Winter Ball.”

“We wanted to make sure if it was going to be a celebration,” Greene said, “that it would be a celebration open to all students.”

While most attendees were from the MCV campus, many undergraduate students also went. One attendee described it as a “college prom.”

Ashley Moore and Lenice Jackson, two freshmen biology majors who attended the ball, said they never thought they’d experience anything like it at VCU.

“People hear ‘ball’ and think it’s going to be a formal event,” Moore said. “But this is way more fun.”

Jackson said that it was an event she’d like to attend again in the future.

“I don’t do a lot on campus because I’m always busy. So getting out on a nice night and being able to dress up,” Jackson said. “I’d definitely come back.”

Some of the professional students on the medical campus saw the event as a chance to let loose before the semester gets into full swing.  

Dr. Ray Colello, an associate professor of anatomy and neurobiology, described the ball as “successful” and said it gave his students the opportunity to blow off some steam while the semester was still getting started.

“They work really hard and this is their chance to experience some normalcy,” Colello said. “Tomorrow they’ll wake up and get right back to studying 10-12 hours a day.”

Jad Elahmad, communications director for the SGA and a senior in the School of Business, said the event was sold out.

“I went to last year’s ball just as a student, but I was part of SGA. Compared to this, I would say both were a success,” Elahmad said. “But this year, there were more people, we hit a thousand tickets and sold out actually. So this is definitely one of the biggest events.”