Lollapalooza? No, no, it’s the COMapalooza!

The College of Communication Student Government hosted its end-of-the-year celebration on the lawn outside COM last Friday April 29. During the event, they raised money for Nova Ukraine, a non-profit organization providing aid and raising awareness for the people of Ukraine, according to their website.

The annual event featured free merchandise, gift cards and a donation table. The goal was to raise more money than the previous year, Kylee Nguyen, president of COM StuGov and junior in COM, said. They accomplished this in the first hours of the event.

“Students on campus feel very motivated for a good cause, which makes us really happy,” Nguyen said. “Everyone stopped by our table and said how amazing and how this is really great for the cause.”

COM StuGov also organized a free raffle that students could participate in for the chance to win prizes such as an iPad, Airpods and a camera.

“The biggest difference this year is that we came up with the raffle, which is our main point to get people to come,” Nguyen said.

Weston Moran, vice president of COM StuGov and a freshman in COM, also emphasized the prizes.

“The prizes are definitely the big thing,” Moran said “We’re giving away thousands of dollars in prizes … it’s prizes that we really think all students would love, especially COM students like the camera [and] the iPad.”

The event also gave COM student organizations an opportunity to showcase their clubs and talk to students about sign-up dates, rushing processes and general membership information.

The BU Public Relations Student Society of America, PRLab and Delta Kappa Alpha, were some of the many organizations with tables at COMapalooza.

“I always love just explaining our club because a lot of people don’t know what it is,” Madeline Chase, president of the PRSSA and senior in COM, said.

Serena Ata, a member of Delta Kappa Alpha, a professional cinematic arts fraternity, and a freshman in COM, said she was excited to see interest in the group.

“It’s been great to really just have those personal one-on-one conversations with people and direct them to different resources that they can use in order to determine whether or not they want to rush,” Ata said.

COM StuGov first started planning COMapalooza in February. One of the biggest challenges they faced was that none of the current executive board members had ever planned an in-person COMapalooza before, Moran said.

“We had big ideas back at the beginning of the semester of what we wanted and unfortunately, there’s been a few times where things have been struck down, which sort of makes sense,” Moran said. “Obviously none of us had planned the event before so we didn’t really know what to expect.”

The event also had to work around COVID-19 limitations, Nguyen said.

“There were a lot of challenges that we have come across … we had so many amazing ideas, but unfortunately could not bring to life because of the restrictions that comes with COVID,” Nguyen said.

However, despite challenges, students still were drawn to the event like Rachel Neil, a freshman in COM, who said she participated in the raffle.

“It was for a good cause because we got to donate to Ukraine,” Neil said. “Also, the prizes seemed really cool, and I wanted to take my shot at them.”

Moran said he hoped people would “come in with an open mind” to the event, have fun and also support Ukraine through donations.

“It really is an end of the year celebration but also keep in mind that this is a fundraiser at its core, and it’s supporting Ukraine, which I think is a cause that all of us can really rally behind,” Moran said. “I think as the Boston University student body, we really should come together to support Ukraine.”

Contributing news writer Serena Ata was not involved in the writing or editing of this article.