WITH VIDEO: CMU students stay Up All Night; Student Activities hosts third annual event

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Laser guns, games and free food kept Central Michigan University students “Up All Night” on Saturday.

CMU’s third annual Up All Night went from 11 p.m. Saturday to 3 a.m. Sunday in the Student Activity Center. The event’s volunteer coordinator Danielle Zink said the night turned out as she expected.

“The event went pretty smoothly,” the Jenison senior said. “Any hiccups that we had we were able to overcome pretty quickly. I think it was a success.”

Zink said Up All Night had a $32,200 budget this year. She said the event stayed pretty close to the budgeted amount from CMU Student Activities, though it did go over budget on food.

Kellie DeSchutter, a Troy senior and administrative co-chairwoman, said the event drew about 2,000 people, which was 700 fewer than their goal.

“I think that it was about what we expected, maybe a little less because the weather was bad,” Zink said. “I think we’re happy with it.”

Some of the more popular attractions were the dog tag station and the inflatable events, Zink said.

“All the students enjoy being kind of like a kid again, so (it’s) very popular,” she said.

Norway freshman Jacob Pollock said his favorite part of Up All Night was the inflatable rock climbing wall. He said he also enjoyed the inflatable Velcro climbing wall.

“It kind of hurt because (the suit) kind of got bunched up and it was painful, but I got to do flips so that was fun,” he said.

Pollock was also pleased that the event was a lot bigger than he thought it would be.

Port Huron Community College freshman Lindsay Thams visited CMU to see a friend and decided to attend Up All Night.

“I love it,” she said. “I think it’s so much fun and there’s tons of stuff to do.”

Thams said her favorite activities were the inflatable rock climbing wall and the green-screen music video booth.

She said she plans to come to to next year’s Up All Night event before she transfers to CMU the following year.

Highland freshman Amanda Gilman spent her time at Up All Night volunteering to set up food and make popcorn.

Gilman said she was offered the volunteer position through her sorority’s philanthropy chairperson, and thought the event would be a good way to earn her required volunteer hours for the semester.

“This was a really good opportunity to kind of knock out like, an hour or six,” she said. “I just like doing it because this is the kind of stuff I did in high school.”

Zink said she had heard a lot of positive reactions to this year’s Up All Night event.

“I’ve heard a couple people say that it was a lot of fun and that we should do it twice a year,” Zink said.