Justin Cortes, Staff Writer

This past Monday, Sep. 5, Woman in New Direction hosted a speed dating event in Strebel Lounge.

It had quite a huge turnout – even larger than the one previously held.

“I feel many more people will be here at the event today because there are a lot more freshmen this year than there were last year,” host Jayson Bretton said. “Last year people didn’t come because of the dating aspect of the event but hopefully there are a lot more people this year.”

About 45 minutes into the event, people began to pour into the lounge. Utica College senior Tobias Neto had a theory as to why people showed up late.

“These students being shy are kind of like you going to the pool and not knowing how to swim. You may not know how to swim, but what you also don’t know is that there are people surrounding you who do know how to swim and will make sure you don’t drown,” Neto said. “But they have to choose to jump in first.”

At first, students began to dip their toes into the pool of speed dating, but eventually conversations began to flow.

Unfortunately, the only relationships that were generated were completely platonic. Some students came to just meet other new students attending UC.

A large amount of students were surrounding the event, either questioning what it was or too shy to take part. Today, college students appear to be shyer than their predecessors. Hopefully this is only a momentary lapse in feeling and not a constant occurrence that develops into something even bigger.