After an 18 month hiatus from traditional festivities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Late Night Marquette is back.
Late Night Marquette describes themselves as working to actively promote a vibrant campus culture by collaborating with members of the university and Milwaukee communities to provide fun, innovative, and free programming to students.
Events take place Thursdays-Saturdays and sometimes on Sundays.
They offer activities like trivia or bingo, open gym sessions, or the occasional concert with comedians or artists
Margaret Anagnostopoulos, a junior in the College of Nursing noted the opportunities for friendships and connections that can happen at Late Night Marquette.
“I think Late Night Marquette is an opportunity for students to meet new people and branch out and see things they may not have seen at Marquette otherwise. Last year was so anti-social that having events for people to go this year to will open up opportunities for making friends, joining new clubs, and finding out more of what is on campus” Anagnostopoulos said.
Anagnostopoulos said the fact that Late Night Marquette is more of an essential opportunity than ever since the capacity guidelines have changed in the city of Milwaukee.
“There is more people on campus than I have seen since my freshman year. The streets are full and classes are more lively and it is just more social interaction.” Anagnostopoulos said.
Upperclassmen students at Marquette have had the opportunity to experience Late Night Marquette before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, many members of the class of 2025 and the class of 2024 haven’t experienced Late Night Marquette at its full potential.
Because of the safety protocols and guidelines through the university and the city of Milwaukee, Late Night Marquette successfully kicked off in its traditional pre-COVID-19 format with bingo at the annex court last Thursday.
Brittany Shabino, a first-year student in the college of health sciences attended Late Night Marquette during orientation week and reflected on her experience.
“At first, I didn’t know exactly what Late Night Marquette was but when I was there I realized I had just met so many nice people that I don’t think I would have met otherwise” Shabino said.
The regular attendees of Late Night Marquette aren’t the only ones benefiting from Late Nights return. Many students at Marquette work for Late Night Marquette and help run events. For the first time since March of 2020, student workers are able to now put together events for hundreds of people, setting the tone for a more traditional Late Night Marquette Environment.
Megan Collier, a senior in the College of Communications serves as a programming assistant and reflected on the difference between the subtle events last year and the return of the traditional Late Night Marquette festivities.
“There is a huge difference between this year and last year in terms of the amount of people that could show up. I think only 30 people at the most could show up for bingo last year, but last night we had our first bingo and we had around 300 people which is crazy” said Collier.
This Thursday, Late Night Marquette will host trivia at the annex court at 9 pm, followed by a performance on Friday by comedian Derrick Knopsnyder at the Weasler Auditorium at 9 p.m., as well as a Marquette fest on Saturday at 9 p.m. at the AMU.
This story was written by TJ Dysart. He can be reached at [email protected]
