The smell of popcorn hung heavy in the air on Parents Field last Sunday while students navigated through a maze. As the sun set across Claremont McKenna’s campus, students waited in line for henna tattoos, while others refilled paper bags with freshly popped popcorn.
Located at the end of the row of tented booths, the light maze was constructed from metal barriers covered with black tarps, illuminated by string lights poking shining across the black surface — illustrating the inspiration for this event, Van Gogh’s famous painting “Starry Night.” The maze’s exit pointed towards South Quad, with students entering on the opposite side.
Claremont McKenna’s South Quad Resident Assistants (RAs) hosted the first-ever Starry Night Carnival this past Friday, April 10. The event hosted booths featuring several 5C student artists selling everything from handmade jewelry to crocheted plushies.
“[The RAs and I] thought that we could do something a little bit different, [something] that has never happened before,” RA Pallavi Raju CM ’26 said. “So we were just kind of dreaming big.”
That mindset led Raju, along with fellow South Quad RAs Elizabeth Gutierrez CM ’26 and Desiree Galamgam CM ’26, to propose incorporating a light maze. Constructed by Joe Bender, an administrative assistant within CMC’s Department of Students (DOS), the maze was accompanied by an array of student vendors, creating a broad carnival theme. Rather than replicating past quad-wide events, like movie nights or smaller community-building events, the team sought to create an experience that felt original and immersive.
Raju explained that each RA took on a different role in the planning process for the event. Galamgam focused on coordinating the student vendors and marketing, while others handled logistics, such as the set-up, equipment and layout.
“It wasn’t really easy to put up the event, but it was really easy for all of us to work together, because our styles really matched,” Raju said. “And so I think that that was reflected in that product really well, because it was so successful and we had a ton of people show up.”
Even with careful planning, the event was not without its challenges. The lights ordered to fit the Starry Night theme and illuminate the otherwise dark maze did not arrive on time for the event as planned. The team scrambled to find replacement lights and was relieved when Diana “DT” Graves, the vice president of student affairs within DOS, supplied some of her own lights.
“This was one of those moments where I feel like DOS showed up for us, [which] was amazing,” Raju said.
Despite these setbacks, Raju emphasized how the help of the staff and the 10 volunteers, who worked on the maze’s setup, running the booths and the eventual maze takedown, was critical to the event’s success.
Beyond its logistical success, Starry Night highlighted the critical role that RAs play in fostering community amongst students living in different dorms. Events like these are meant to bring students together, especially during stressful periods of the academic calendar — such as April, the infamous season of thesis submission and finals preparations.
“Being an RA has such a huge impact on the community and the student body,” Raju said. “Our primary role is to be a community builder.”
This focus on community building is especially meaningful in the context of South Quad’s reputation. Often perceived as quieter and less socially active than the rest of CMC’s campus. However, Gutierrez offered a different perspective.
“South Quad has the reputation of being quieter than the other quads; however, we still have a really rich community culture,” Gutierrez said. “Stark has a vibrant lounge life, and both Auen and Fawcett benefit from having small lounges on each floor, which encourages residents to interact with their floormates.”
Raju affirmed this idea, adding that she wished she had lived in South Quad for more of her time at CMC after finding such a great community there this past year.
“I think that even though people say, ‘Oh, South doesn’t have community,’ I think that even though the entire dorm might not interact with each other as much, we may actually have a tighter community than some of the big Mid Quad dorms, because they have so many people,” Rajus said.
At the same time, the Carnival reflected an effort to expand that sense of community beyond the smaller floor groups. By incorporating vendors from across the 5Cs in planning a large-scale event, the RA team aimed to create a space that would attract a wider range of students. According to Gutierrez, the response from vendors was largely positive, with many expressing satisfaction with their sales and overall experience.
“Ultimately, the goal of our event was to go beyond our individual dorms and make connections across South Quad but also across CMC,” Gutierrez said. “So, while each quad does have its own vibe, I do think that we all ultimately belong to the wider CMC community, which supersedes any labels we might assign to any one quad — this is what the South Quad RAs were ultimately trying to tap into.”
CMC students echoed this message, affirming that they felt the Carnival brought the South Quad community together.
“For me, South Quad has always felt kind of cut off from the rest of campus, and I never really go there for events,” Presley Forster CM ’29 said. “Thanks to the RAs, I got to meet and chat with a few people from South, which was really great.”
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