PAAC is back and bringing the fun
PAAC is back and better than ever.
The student organization, officially known as the Performing Arts and Activities Council, is back in action after a forced slowdown for a couple of years. It’s run by about a dozen students who work all year long to bring activities and performances to Cornell College students.
In fact–did you see the giant bouncy obstacle course on campus for Ramapalooza, win any prizes during Grocery Bingo, watch Running Lights on the Orange Carpet, or find a Ram keychain during Homecoming?
PAAC was behind all of those.
“Our role is to supply the entire student body with fun, engaging, and most importantly free entertainment year-round,” said Izzy Schmidt, Executive Chair of PAAC. “We do a lot–from bringing in acts like concerts and comedians to more laid-back activities like Bingo and Stuff-A-Plush. I like to describe it as the fun side of student council in high school, party planning, and having fun!”
While most of the campus community is enjoying a summer vacation, this group is working. They start planning in April of the previous year and spend time on their summer break planning events to make students smile.
“We meet all summer long as an Executive Council planning events, discussing what events we should do again, how should we change them up, what new events we should try,” Schmidt said. “By the first day of school, we have contracted the first semester’s worth of events as well as planned out all our Purple Events, non-contracted events we put together on our own, and are working to complete second semester’s plan.”
During all of that, they also attend a conference–The National Association for Campus Activities–where they watch performances and discover talented acts they bring to Cornell for students to enjoy.
And we can’t forget about Homecoming. All of the student-based events are organized by PAAC. The airbrush art event, lip sync, and pep rally were all organized by the council.
“These events are important because Homecoming is a unifying event amongst the Cornell community,” said PAAC’s Business Administrator Jake Vuolo. “We work hard to do our best to make sure that there are fun things offered for students and the community.”
Behind the scenes, they work out every detail from setting up to signing contracts for performers to cleaning up when everything is over. And they do it all for Cornell students.
“It’s an awesome feeling when we see people enjoying these events,” Vuolo said.
PAAC members rely on one another and have a strong sense of teamwork. As the saying goes–teamwork makes the dream work.
“While we’re not working to win a game, we’re supporting each other to make sure the events we host go well,” Vuolo said.
“PAAC has a great environment, we are all super supportive of each other and we have such a fun time doing what we love,” Schmidt added. “Random PAAC movie nights for the PAAC members are a frequent occurrence and we often end up chatting for an hour after the meetings just for fun!”
They’re excited to see their team grow as more and more activities get planned following the silence of COVID. They hope more students get involved by attending the events or joining their team.
PAAC says it would also love to hear students’ feedback about events by emailing paac@cornellcollege.edu or messaging them on Instagram, @cornellcollegepaac. If students want to attend a meeting, those happen on Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. in the PAAC office behind the Orange Carpet and next to the Student Life Office.
“Make sure to stop by any PAAC events ’cause they’re for everybody,” Schmidt said. “We’ve got all sorts of super fun events coming up this year!”
All PAAC events can be found on the Cornell College website’s campus calendar. Upcoming PAAC events:
Headphone Disco with PAAC: Friday, Dec. 9, 7–9 p.m. in Hall-Perrine Room
Juice Boxes with Bob Ross: Friday, Dec. 16, 7–9 p.m. in Hall-Perrine Room
Casino Night: Saturday, Jan. 21, TBD, in Thomas Commons
