BUSINESS BEGINS ON VALENTINES DAY
May 26, 2023 • Volume III is out now!
BUSINESS BEGINS ON VALENTINES DAY
School News • February 14, 2023
Written by Benj Mari Gulla
The OrtEx Fun Week 2023 officially began operations on the morning of February 14, Tuesday. In order to participate in the booths, students had to avail special tickets which were used as the currency throughout the program. Visitors could avail these tickets by lining up for the ticket booth to purchase them, or they also had the option to purchase them through the officers patrolling around the campus to entice guests into buying tickets. There were two types of tickets that were sold. One type was for tickets directly symbolizing standard currency (₱15 tickets, ₱20 tickets, ₱25 tickets) whilst the other was specific to a certain booth and must be owned to participate there (Photo Booth tickets and Movie Booth tickets).
The booths made available to the participants included the carnival games booth, wherein visitors could participate in games to win prizes, the E-Games tournament booth wherein visitors could spectate over a live E-Game competition, a Just Dance booth, where visitors could start a game of Just Dance with their friends, a serenade booth, where visitors could request for a live karaoke or live member performance of a chosen song, and also a makeshift Movie Theater wherein different movies were showcased to visitors who paid for a movie ticket. The movies chosen to be shown in the booth included Interstellar, A Quiet Place, MEGAN, and more.
Apart from the booths already mentioned above, a special Photo Booth was also created for Fun Week. Visitors could have their pictures taken in front of a decorated background while also being offered a variety of props to use for the picture. After you've handed over your Photo booth ticket, you could've either requested a hard copy of the pictures taken or just a soft copy, with the latter option set at half the price of the first.
Another classic booth incorporated into the program is the infamous jail booth. Any sort of school fair isn't really complete without this absolute nuisance of a booth, don't you think? From time to time, Fun Week marshals were instructed to chase after visitors who fit a given category (eg. Students who were not wearing their IDs) and "trap" them inside the jail booth. Once they were caught and put in the booth, they had to hand over a ticket worth ₱15 in order to get bailed.
As Fun Week opened doors for guests on Valentine's Day, the marriage booth was definitely a staple. From its first few minutes of operation, two APEC students were seen already taking part in the booth, holding their own marriage ceremony with a complementary performance from the performers of the serenade booth playing some of the most typical love songs you would hear in most weddings. After all, you can't have a wedding without Beautiful in White playing in the background now, can you? The marriage booth was decorated romantically with shiny red heart cut-outs and heart-shaped balloons which made for the perfect sweet atmosphere between the "newlyweds" in their photos, which was further enhanced with the props provided. After the ceremony, a certificate was handed out to the "couple" as memorabilia and also as a token of appreciation for participating in the booth.
From the very first day of Fun Week, things have already gotten very busy. Progressing into the week, the pressure was surely on to keep the momentum going and keep all of the booths engaging to guests. Most important of all though, it was crucial that the program was able to continue to deliver the visitors enjoyment.