Juliana Omodara’s mother is her first love. Omodara, a member of Commuter Student Association, is celebrating her first Valentine’s Day with a significant other; however, she is still excited to spend time with her mother.
“My mom has always made it a priority to make sure I feel special and to know what love feels like,” Omodara said. “So even when I was single, I still had fun on Valentine’s because my mom would be my valentine, and she would buy me gifts and stuff.”
Each year on Valentine’s Day Omodara’s mom gets her a new piece of gold jewelry.
“In my household every holiday is special,” Omodara said. “I’m Muslim, but we celebrate even Christmas because she just tries to make every holiday special, so we don’t feel left out.”
Single or not, Stevenson University staff and students have made plans and look forward to Valentine’s Day weekend. Valentine’s Day is celebrated differently by each person on campus and ranges from romantic dates and personal self-care to family quality time. For many people on campus like coordinator for Student Life and Leadership Ebony Woodbury, Valentine’s Day is not just a holiday for couples.
“I don’t really think about it as a day for romantic love,” Woodbury said. “It does not have to be a day for couples it can be for familial love, or you could have like Galentine’s day for friends.”
Some students, like Jasmin Sheikh, a third-year psychology major, are celebrating Valentine’s Day with friends.
“Valentine’s Day is a day to do activities with my friends that I would be doing with a guy,” Sheikh said. “It’s sometimes about friendship love.”
Other Students such as Mark Esposito express their excitement for the romantic side of Valentine’s Day. Esposito explained that he was excited to spend his first Valentine’s Day with his significant other.
“What makes Valentine’s Day special to me is it’s being with someone you care about a lot and love a lot,” Esposito said.
For some on campus their joy comes from spending the day by themselves. Communication professor Deric Greene explains that he is going to spend his Valentine’s evening at the movie theater watching “Captain America: Brave New World.”
“I’m going to make certain that I have a big tub of popcorn and a nice cold drink of Coca-Cola and also my favorite candy bar which is a roasted almond Cadbury bar,” Greene said.
For people who do not have a date for Valentine’s Day, students can stop by the Philip A. Zaffere Library and can pick up a blind date with a book. Librarian Leslie Cruise stated that the library’s seasonal book display at the entrance of the library has an assortment of wrapped up books for students to check out and take home to read.
Tracy Vattla is the lead cashier at Cafe North. She said that Valentine’s Day should not be the only day that people celebrate love.
“I give and love throughout the whole year. I don’t think we should wait for that one particular day to celebrate,” Vattla said. “I think the world would be a lot better if we just expressed love more than on just one day.”
