“Be Out Day” to be held Saturday at FAMU Park

Saturday at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University’s Park will be a time for students, community, faculty and staff to fellowship.

Be Out Day is an annual event held the first Saturday of April by the university, that has been going on for more than 15 years.

“Be Out Day is basically the student body giving back to the community with a big end of the year party telling them thank you,” said Morris Hawkins, the chair of Be Out Day 2009.

Since then Be Out Day has been sponsored by the university’s carried over funds, money that wasn’t spent the year before, and is carried over to the new school year. 

Aaron Brown, 22, a senior professional MBA student from Detroit has attended Be Out Day every year since coming to FAMU.

“What I enjoy most about Be Out Day is the food. It’s good and it’s free,” Brown said.   

Be Out Day 2009 will have an array of food ranging from soul food to carnival food and it is free to everyone.

According to Ashley Duprat, 22, a senior political science student from Fort Lauderdale, what keeps her coming back to Be Out Day is unity among those that attend.

“At FAMU we pride ourselves as being one big happy family and at Be Out Day we can really feel that big family atmosphere,” said Duprat.

A hit every year with Be Out Day is its Clash of the Classes, an event where all the classes compete against one another in various competitions.

“The Clash of the Classes is my favorite event,” Duprat said. “It brings unity amongst the different teams. It brings the classes together as a whole, so all the majors come together to form one team, and of course it’s always fun to compete.”

Kashif Smiley-Clark, entertainment chair of Be Out Day 2009, shared that there will be a DJ, games, karaoke and a performance by the FAMU Strikers.

Boost Mobile will have a phone give away, an Xbox station will be set up, and the health department will be in attendance promoting health awareness to the community.

Along with the  free food, games, entertainment and vendors, Be Out Day is incorporating something that hasn’t taken place in a long time.

The Marching 100 will be concluding the day’s festivities with the Snake Walk, which hasn’t been performed in more than four years.

The Snake Walk is a parade that takes place on campus, starting on the set and stopping at Bragg Memorial Stadium, opening up for the Orange and Green Game.

With finals around the corner, students should take a little free time to enjoy free food, entertainment, games and fellowship with other Rattlers and the community.

Be Out Day 2009 is meant to give students a chance to relax before the end of the semester.