On Saturday Aug. 25, CSUSM Orientation & New Student Program (ONSP) partnered with Playfair to host Miiyu along with fellow organizations on campus, such as Associate Students Inc. (ASI), Campus Recreation and University Student Union (USU).

The ONSP hosted incoming freshman and returning students on the Forum Plaza from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. for interactive games and entertainment.

The word Miiyu comes from Luiseño language, it stands for hello, according to Jason Schreiber, Dean of Students who helped coordinate the event. “Part of it is to teach culture, spirit and the idea was also to be a kick-off of weeks of welcome in a way for new students and returning students to get to know other fellow cougars,” said Schreiber.

Miiyu started off by gathering students in the USU Amphitheater to play a questionnaire game which consisted of questions about CSUSM, such as “what day of the week do students wear blue?” Two projectors on each side of the amphitheater displayed CSUSM’s chants in order for everyone to cheer unison before the students were guided to the Forum plaza to participate in Playfair, an organization that combines campus unity and school spirit. Playfair is a team-building experience that engages college campuses of any size from fifty to 7500 new students. Emily, the Playfair representative for Miiyu, administered ice breakers that allowed students to connect with one another.

First year student Saud Carrillo said, “It’s cool to interact with new people, for us we are all friends and been in the same group for a while, so the fact that we are meeting people from a bunch of different places and different backgrounds is super cool.”

This is CSUSM’s first time hosting Miiyu and it’s uncertain when our campus will host this exact event again but those who are interested in campus events that include food, games and mingling can follow ASI on instagram @asi.cab or find their event calendar at https://www.csusm.edu/asi/events/index.html