Students played carnival games to win prizes at a Student Government Association event in front of the Health and Life Sciences Building on Wednesday.

About 300 students gathered for the carnival to win prize tickets by playing games like spin-the-wheel and pin the beak on AACC’s mascot Swoop, or by battling each other while wearing giant inflatable “hamster balls.”

“I planned it out simply because I was trying to figure out a way to make something really fun and exciting for students to do something that wasn’t school-related at all,” Vanessa Cordozo, the SGA vice president of campus activities, said. “I wanted something that students could completely de-stress and unplug from school in general.”

The carnival was one of three major events the SGA will host this semester alongside a winter festival and a celebration of Halloween and Day of the Dead called Hallows Fiesta.

SGA President Zack Buster said he was proud of the event.

“This whole thing came together as this thing of, ‘Hey, let’s make this really, really big fun event for the semester,’” Buster, a third-year communications student, said. “Vanessa really brought it all together.”

SGA Executive Vice President Rabiyatou Bah said the goal of the event was to “engage students on campus.”

“We want to bring as many people together as possible,” Bah, a second-year engineering student, said.

SGA Vice President of Diversity, Equity,and Inclusion Mya Williams said the carnival was a way to be “a part of something that would bring our whole community together.”

Some students who attended the event said they enjoyed it.

“I think it was fun and very well put together,” Jennifer Georgia, a first-year dental hygiene student, said.

Lila Newcomb, a first-year cybersecurity student, said she just attended for the popcorn.

“[I came] because there would be food,” Newcomb said.