{"id":449539,"date":"2026-09-27T20:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T20:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/449539\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T20:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T20:00:10","slug":"mavericks-skate-to-2016-pop-hits-at-uta-excel-campus-activities-event-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/449539\/","title":{"rendered":"Mavericks skate to 2016 pop hits at UTA EXCEL Campus Activities event | Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Graphic design freshman Tyler Nguyen falls down while skating during the Rollerskate Throwback on Sept. 25 at the Maverick Activities Center. There was music, food and crafts for attendees.<\/p>\n

Photo by Emmanuel Pizano<\/a><\/p>\n

Eager students waited in the hall outside Maverick Activities Center Room 133, signing waivers and receiving goody bags before entering. <\/p>\n

An assortment of snacks, drinks and food met them when they first came in. A photo backdrop and craft table sat on the other side of the gym. <\/p>\n

EXCEL Campus Activities hosted its Skating Throwback event Friday. Students were invited to lace up their skates and travel back to 2016 while enjoying pop hits from the era. <\/p>\n

EXCEL is UTA\u2019s student-led programming board that provides social, educational, cultural and tradition-centered events and activities for the community, according to its website. <\/p>\n

Maritza Perez, EXCEL programming director and one of the event planners, said events like this create community on campus and allow students to relax and unwind without spending money. <\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Polina Shagaeva, Russian and Korean sophomore, left, and marketing sophomore Miriam Kim hold hands while skating during the Rollerskate Throwback on Sept. 25 at the Maverick Activities Center. The event was 2016-themed.<\/p>\n

Photo by Emmanuel Pizano<\/a><\/p>\n

Mechanical engineering freshman Dinh Luong said he was most excited to hang out. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt shifts the whole perspective, UTA being mostly commuter and kind of lonely to being more inclusive and fun,\u201d Luong said. <\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for students to hit the rink as the music thrummed through the air. <\/p>\n

The roller rink, which took up only a portion of the room, was soon packed with skating students. <\/p>\n

Lillian Ruesink, quantitative biology doctorate student and Roller Derby skater, didn\u2019t mind the size of the rink. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Graphic design freshman Tyler Nguyen skates around the rink during the Rollerskate Throwback on Sept. 25 at the Maverick Activities Center. Attendees were provided roller skates to use.<\/p>\n

Photo by Emmanuel Pizano<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great setup and a way for other students to get to skate,\u201d Ruesink said. <\/p>\n

Like many others, Ruesink found comfort in the crowd and the bonding experience it created. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an amazing event, and I\u2019m happy with the turnout, but I think there could always be more,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Some, like Polina Shagaeva, a Russian and Korean sophomore, came out to dip their toes into the skating world. <\/p>\n

When asked how long she\u2019d been skating, Shagaeva replied, \u201czero days, zero years, zero months.\u201d <\/p>\n

But that didn\u2019t stop her from enjoying the event.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Students roller-skate during the Rollerskate Throwback on Sept. 25 at the Maverick Activities Center. The event was free.<\/p>\n

Photo by Emmanuel Pizano<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m meeting a lot of people who can actually skate, and they\u2019re kind of teaching me how to skate, so it\u2019s fun,\u201d Shagaeva said. <\/p>\n

Perez said even with Oozeball, UTA\u2019s traditional mud volleyball tournament, happening down the street, the event still had a good student turnout. <\/p>\n

As the music continued, students with smiles on their faces continued around and around the rink. Even if they fell, the laughter and excitement from the event never skipped a beat. <\/p>\n

\u201cBeing in a space where it\u2019s okay to fail and fall over when other students are here to pick you back up and be supportive of you is really healthy,\u201d Ruesink said. <\/p>\n

@noah_logan_little<\/p>\n

news-editor.shorthorn@uta.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Graphic design freshman Tyler Nguyen falls down while skating during the Rollerskate Throwback on Sept. 25 at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[150,152,151,1086],"class_list":["post-449539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arlington","tag-arlington","tag-arlington-headlines","tag-arlington-news","tag-campus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}