Once again the clouds decided to rain on our parade. Arizona Western College annual family night ended early Thursday, November 21 due to rain. It seems to never rain in Yuma but it has become a custom to have some of our major events rained on. Family night was still a success while it lasted as we had all our athletes, club members and staff working together to giving the community a good time; everything was free other than the food. The night consisted on games, music, performances, food, and snacks.

AWC CAMPSA, Honors program, Running club and SGA were a few clubs who were in charge of the goodies being sold on family night. There were carne asada tacos being sold for $6 with rice and beans; along with cheese quesadillas, cut cucumbers with Mexican candy on it, cupcakes, and sodas, waters many other goodies.

"Selling food on family night was a great idea due to the fact that it was good quality food and that it also helps the schools programs raise money for future activities" said Cisco Ramirez, student and athlete here at AWC. Along with Cisco many others enjoy the foods being sold on family night; another way the community was a great support to our school.

Families were able to interact with our athletes due to their sport. Men's basketball and baseball were located outside of the book store where they had a section for families to come and shoot some baskets or pitch some baseballs. The men's soccer team was located on the grassy area in front of the cafeteria with two goals set up allowing children of all ages to come play a small game of soccer with them. As for the women's soccer team was located on the other side of the cafeteria in charge of the pie eating contest where our students and staff participated.

Athletic trainer Juan Lopez was one of our pie eating participants "I thought it would be fun to try it and to have fun with my co-workers. Besides I was supporting the soccer team" said Juan.

Family night also had a small petting area where people of all ages could go and pet a variety of animals; there were goats, ponies, rabbits, and chickens. Along with the petting area everyone was allowed to take silly pictures with tiaras, huge glasses, and other funny accessories. Pictures could be taken in small groups or in groups as big as a soccer team. A big hit for family night was allowing kids of all ages to make their own music videos with costumes and being able to take the video home to show off to friends and family. The participants had many accessories and costumes to choose from to make their music video as they pleased.

Family Night had many fun activities for family to enjoy however it also had many performances being held on the stage between the science building and 3C building. AWC Sumba class performed one of their many workouts a long with getting people to joy the class and become part of AWC. We had a variety of our younger Yuma dancers and gymnast showing us the progress of Yuma's future; due to the rain many of the performances had to be canceled. However our Polynesian club did their performance underneath the 3C building while it was pouring rain. The Polly's began their traditional dance as everyone else started to circle up around them and standing on benches just to get a glimpse of such an amazing performance. The Polly's performance made everyone forget for a moment that family night was canceled due to massive rain; once the performance was over and the crowd cheered everyone ran to their cars or found a dry spot to wait for the rain to clear off.

Family night is a great way to give back to our community and a way to give thanks for all their support all around campus from education to athletics.

"I thought family night was fun and a great way to give back to the community because of all the support it give AWC and its athletics; so it's nice to have the athletes and staff giving back to the community" said Juan.

Arizona Western College appreciates everything done by the community and once in a while likes to give back to let the community know we are thankful and show them we care.

Photos by Nick Canady