On November 29, students from Yale, Southern Connecticut State University, Quinnipiac University, and our very own University of New Haven gathered at the New Haven Green for a
World Aids Day Flash Mob. This event was put on through the coordination of community service offices and individual faculty members within the four universities.
The evening of the flash mob kicked off around 5:00 p.m. Students from the universities were shuttled and dropped off at the New Haven Green. From there, students were divided into groups of three to five. Each group had been assigned a different street corner in the surrounding blocks of the New Haven Green.
The student groups stood at their corner, and at 5:30 p.m., they put on red beanie hats with the World AIDS Day logo on them, (each student had gotten one prior to going to their street corner), and lit a candle which had been provided to them. The students stood in silence with their beanies on and candles lit for three minutes. If a passer-by asked what they were doing, each student was supplied with a card about the flash mob and world AIDS day to give to them.
After three minutes, the students all began walking from their prospective corners to the green. Within ten minutes, the green was swarmed with over 100 college students wearing read beanies and carrying candles. Then the world AIDS rally began. It started off with a speaker from one of the New Haven health facilities talking about AIDS and advancements in treatments and detection over the years.
After that, two students from Yale MC’d the rest of the rally. They would give facts and statistics throughout the evening. Student representatives from each of the universities told stories about AIDS, highlighting transmission, treatments, and advancements in AIDS research. The evening capped off with a moving performance from Yale’s a cappella group, Baker’s Dozen.
Throughout the evening, different hospitals and health centers were there to provide participants with information on AIDS, as well as give out plenty of condoms. There was also rapid AID testing taking place, for those students who wanted to get tested.
Overall, the event was a complete success and a great experience for all who participated. Although it was the first World AIDS day flash mob, hopefully it won’t be the last!
