Students curiously waited in line in front of the E-sports Lounge for the first-ever Valentine’s Day event hosted by Titan Bowl & Billiards and Art Programs on Thursday. 

The Associated Students collaborators opened a “flower shop” in the lounge for students to create “forever bouquets” – essentially, a regular bouquet of flowers and greenery, but the foliage is made out of different colored pipe cleaners. 

Inside the lounge, the tables were treated as stations. The first two tables displayed pre-made flowers and plants for students to pick from. 

At the third table, two ASI workers wrapped students’ bundles in different colored wrapping paper and ribbon. The fourth table was catered to making cards where students could attach a message to their crafted creation. 

Hailey Martinez, the Titan Bowl & Billiards lead, a student assistant in Art Programs and fourth-year art major, was the brain behind the “forever bouquets,” as it was her idea to pitch the activity and give a colorful variety for the students to choose from.

“I said that it would be really cool to have something here because I would want to experience that as a student,” Martinez said. 

All the supplies were provided by the two programs. Titan Bowl & Billiards used their budget to purchase half of the supplies, while Art Programs contributed the other half by sharing their supplies. 

Allowing students to create their flower arrangements for this Valentine’s event became a unique idea with a reason. 

According to Martinez, they wanted to transform the lounge into a makerspace for the students to enjoy their Valentine’s Day and do something different besides bowling and billiards. 

“We wanted something more interactive and making more use of this space,” Martinez said. “We wanted their Valentine’s Day to be a little bit more lighthearted and something that they can just give to their besties and think of TBB.” 

The turnout came out to be quite the surprise as more and more students came in to participate in this sweet activity.

Second-year criminal justice major Dayanara Montoya, first-year psychology major Estefani Pantojas and first-year criminal justice major Mareth Lozano came along to the event as they saw another student holding the bouquet and were intrigued. 

“It was kind of funny, so we were just walking out of class, and then we see this girl with pipe cleaner flowers in a bouquet,” Lozano said. “We’re like, ‘Oh, let’s ask her where she got them,’ and she just pointed us to TSU.” 

Despite waiting in line to get into the lounge, Pantojas mentioned that overall the group had a wonderful experience making their arrangements. 

What makes these flowers special is that they are long-lasting and won’t wither since they are made out of pipe cleaners. 

“I feel like it’s really cute, you get free flowers and it’s something you’ll remember for whenever you’ll cherish them, they won’t die,” Pantojas said.   

If ASI hosted another Valentine’s Day event, the group of students agreed this was a perfect activity worth coming down and participating in.

“It was a really cute gesture and it kind of made people not feel left out, especially for Valentine’s Day if you don’t got a man or a girlfriend,” Montoya said. “Like (Pantojas) said they’re long-lasting and they’re really cute.” 

Since this Valentine’s Day event was a success, ASI is brainstorming new sets of themes for the next program offering. 

It’s undecided what the next activity event is, but Martinez mentioned that they would definitely host another Valentine’s Day event involving student couples and groups.

“I’m hoping that they’re thinking of someone special and if that’s themselves (then) I’m hoping that they’re thinking of themselves in that light,” Martinez said. “I’m hoping that they really enjoyed this experience and how we were able to provide that for them.”