RSEi Holds Huge End of Semester Event!

RSEi Holds Huge End of Semester Event!

Ayaan Ahmad ’26 (PR Manager), Alex Heinle ’26 (President), Ben Knode ’26 (House Manager)

To celebrate the success of the fall semester, and mainly our speaker series, Alex Heinle ’26 and Lucas Masotti ’26 came up with the idea of having a relaxing and entertaining event, one that would pay homage to more traditional RSE events. As such, RSEi held a Hot Chocolate Social Event on December 6, 2023, to offer students, faculty, and family of RPI a nice, enjoyable way to close off the semester.

The plan was to keep this event formal and invite-only to send a direct message about the integrity and demeanor of the organization to the RPI community. All members were encouraged to invite their professors, and their inclusion made the event far more enjoyable. Being able to interact with professors in a more casual, non-classroom environment was something many student attendees gave positive feedback about.

We spent November planning and purchasing the required decorations, ingredients for food, and various board games. All cleaning and decorating were done the week before the event. All members assisted in decorating the Living Room and Trophy Hall including an 11-foot Christmas tree, with many ornaments, and plenty of tinsel. With the smell of evergreen in the air, several members including Marcella Sushynski ’27, Abedalah Safi ’26, Zoe Puno ’26, and Abrar Zaki ’26, made delicious dishes such as a Spinach Pastry Christmas Tree, Oreo Cake Pops, and several other Christmas and winter themed food items; And of course, there was the delicious Hot Chocolate made by Alex Heinle ’26 and Abedalah Safi ’26. RSEi members volunteered to do rotating duties such as cleaning and bringing out cleaned dishes, attending to the incoming guests, etc.

Around 6 PM, the invited students and faculty started showing up one by one, and then group by group. After being greeted and directed to sign their name in the Guest Book, they were given the opportunity to offload their coat to a member in the Coat Room and participate in the festivities. The guests were free to enjoy the delicious snacks, various board games, or just talk with others. I (Ayaan Ahmad ’26) personally played multiple games of chess with my professors.

The event went smoothly; we interpreted the empty plates and serving dishes as high praise to the chef(s). Due to the diligence of RSEi members, the House was kept neat during the event, no coats were misplaced, and everyone enjoyed themselves. Thank you to all the members who helped organize this event, and of course this would not have been possible without the support of our alumni members. Looking ahead, we aspire to host even more elaborate events in the future, expanding our impact and spreading our message across the campus.