The Lion’s Roar / Maria Goddard
Delta Tau Delta and Theta Phi Alpha pose after winning best overall drink for their booth representing Cinco de Mayo. “Holidays” was the central theme at Mocktails, an event supporting sobriety among college students.

Holidays such as Christmas, 4th of July and New Year’s were celebrated all at once during the annual Mocktails event. 

Last Wednesday, Mocktails was held in the parking garage with over 100 students in attendance. The theme was American holidays. 

The event started off with motivational speaker Lorin Phillips from Campus Speaks. She discussed the good and bad about alcohol and how to be safe. 

“[The purpose of the speech is] to help students make better choices about alcohol and give them some information to enable them to do that,” said Phillips.  “I think it is a fun way to bring awareness to the alternatives to alcohol. I think also it is to get people involved and excited about having a conversation about safety and making right choices.”

As organizations put on their thinking caps, they created drinks and decorated their booths so judges could taste the best of the best. 

“It’s my favorite event every year,” said Emily Moise, counselor for the University Counseling Center. “Everybody comes together. It’s a good way to promote a healthy campus [and] everyone has a great time. I judged off of creativity, amount of time and effort put into each booth and if they thought outside the box.”

Mocktails is one of the most popular events held on campus throughout the year, bringing organizations together to support campus health and safety.

“I think Mocktails is one of the greatest events on campus because it gives us a chance to support a good cause, do some extra team bonding and show our best effort,” said Angele Thibodaux, member of Alpha Psi Omega. “It’s a good competition. It feels good to be out here with all these different organizations and show our true colors.”

The night concluded with the announcing of the winners in a variety of categories.

NAACP won the PEEPS Choice Award with their Christmas booth. 

“We all came up with an idea that would be eye-catching and a way for the judges to remember us, and that idea was to build a gingerbread house,” said Breanna Lawrence, member of NAACP.

The best drink overall went to Delta Tau Delta and Theta Phi Alpha. The best booth overall went to Alpha Sigma Tau and Kappa Sigma. Third place went to Kappa Alpha Order and Phi Mu. 

“I will never forget Mocktails, and now I know that I can have fun without drinking alcohol. It makes fun safer, and it saves lives,” said Kelonda Dixon, sophomore graphic design major.