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Director of Campus Activities and Operations Joan Maze serves cake to students for the Campus Center 15th Birthday. Photo by Will Milch.

On Monday, Feb. 1, members of the Macalester community came together to celebrate the Ruth Stricker Dayton Campus Center’s 15th anniversary. The Anniversary Kickoff event, co-hosted by Campus Activities and Operations and the Campus Center staff, included custom t-shirt printing, karaoke and Bon Appetit catering, free for all students and staff.

The Campus Center officially opened on Feb. 1, 2001, and has since served as a vibrant social and working space on campus. Preparation for the 15th anniversary celebration has been ongoing for some time.

“We’ve been planning this event for a couple months. The idea’s been there for a while,” said Pratik Singh, Manager of Reservations and the Information Desk. “The 15th anniversary is a huge milestone for the building.”

Singh was also involved with planning for the Campus Center’s 10th anniversary celebration in 2011, an event that featured cupcake decorating, face painting and a magician. The building’s size and central location on campus make it ideal for events drawing large crowds.

“The Campus Center Extravaganza during Orientation drew between 500 and 600 people,” said Andy Williams, Assistant Director of the Campus Center. “[The kickoff] is perhaps the closest we’ll get to that size this year.” Williams, Singh, and other staff members estimated total attendance of over 300 students and other Macalester community members at the Anniversary Kickoff.

Lines quickly formed alongside the custom t-shirt making table a few minutes after it opened in the Atrium at 5:00 p.m. on Monday. Eager participants posed for a photo, which was then printed onto a t-shirt in one of a variety of designs. Students flocked to the t-shirt printer, each with a distinct idea in mind.

“I like custom-made shirts. I already have a shirt with my friend’s face on it in my closet. I think these will go well together,” Hanna Crowe ’19 said, while admiring her freshly printed white t-shirt featuring a “Hotline Bling”-inspired image of Crowe and Therese Deslippe ’18. While also a fan of custom-printed t-shirts, Deslippe initially approached the t-shirt printer for a different reason.

“I saw my friend Suveer [Daswani ’18] get a t-shirt, and I can’t let Suveer be better than me at anything,” Deslippe said. “I had to make a better shirt than him.”

T-shirt printing continued throughout the night, while music played in Café Mac and Campus Center staff put out food and oversaw “Olympic” themed games on the second floor. From 9:00 to 11:00 p.m., students and staff members sang karaoke in the Loch, with performers receiving candy and other prizes.

Many other anniversary celebration events will occur throughout February. The “Live in the Loch” music series features performers every Tuesday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The Campus Center will also host screenings of Oscar-nominated films Creed and The Big Short on Saturday, Feb. 27, as well as a viewing of the Oscars Awards Ceremony on Feb. 28.