Joe Omspach and Sahar Qasmi work at creating a stuffed animal at Loudoun's Build-A-Bear event./ Photo by: Traci Brooks

Lions, tigers and bears, oh my! Add in a few alligators, giraffes, monkeys and a big pile of fluffy stuffing, and all components of building personalized stuffed animals are present.

Student Activities at Loudoun campus hosted a “Build-A-Bear” day on Feb. 10 in honor of Valentine’s Day. For no charge, students could come and create their own stuffed animal. Dozens of students turned out for the event, a number the organizers hadn’t anticipated in their planning.

The event started at noon, and by 12:15 p.m., all the stuffed animals had been claimed. Students who arrived too late to make a bear were pointed towards free candy and supplies to make valentines as a consolation prize. But the Student Ambassadors, who helped organize the event, saw the quick disappearance as a positive.

“That means it was a really good activity,” Natalie Bello, a student ambassador, said. “People really [pay attention] to the fliers and to the LSA (Loudoun Student Activities) announcements.”

Tiffney Laing, the student activities coordinator, worked with Entertainment Connection to produce this event. “I had no idea that it would only last 15 minutes,” she said. “I ordered 50 [animals], and 50 were gone in 15 minutes.”

But running out of animals wasn’t entirely unexpected. “I was expecting to run out almost immediately,” said another student ambassador, Dolly Lloyd. “We had an ice cream social last year that went from 12 o’clock to 1 o’clock. It went from 12 p.m. to 12:17 p.m. because so many people showed up to eat ice cream. I was anticipating this would be a similar event.”

Audrey Deugoue and Veronica Monsalve dig through stuffing to make sure their animals are filled head to toe./ Photo by: Traci Brooks

But even though some students didn’t get to make a bear, few seemed upset. Courtney Washington arrived a little too late to get an animal, and while she said she was “kind of sad,” she said she mainly came because the event was free. “I have tons of stuffed animals already.”

That pragmatic viewpoint was echoed by Lloyd. “This is just one of those events where some people are going to be brokenhearted, unfortunately,” she said. “That’s what happens when you have an active and vibrant campus.”

By: Traci J. Brooks

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