On Wednesday, April 19, West Chester University campus was focused on one thing: bananas.
Banana Day has been a West Chester tradition since 1996. Hosted by the Student Activities Council, the day consisted of games around campus, free bananas, a visit from a monkey and, most importantly, T-shirts. Banana Day is a tradition unique to WCU and is highly anticipated by students.
Students celebrate this day with banana-themed activities. This year there were Banana Day events inside and outside of Sykes, outside of E.O. Bull Center and in both academic and residential quads. The games were all banana-themed: banana trivia, hot banana (hot potato), making a rap about bananas, relay races with bananas in between your legs, banana toss and much more.
One of the more popular aspects of Banana Day is the T-shirts. Every year SAC orders a limited amount of shirts with a design that changes every year. Since there aren’t enough for everyone on campus, the stakes are higher for everyone participating in Banana Day.
This campus-wide event also serves as a day to promote wellness and healthy eating. The Center for Women and Gender Equity and the Office of Wellness Promotion were involved in hosting games and giving out prizes. Both organizations joined together and used Banana Day as an opportunity to promote safe sex. Their table inside the Sykes Ballrooms included games such as dildo ring tosses and a consent vocabulary matching game. Winners of these games were given Banana Day T-shirts as well as other prizes from both organizations.
The most obvious element to Banana Day is the bananas. At each location, SAC volunteers were stocked with boxes full of bananas to hand out to students. Along with free bananas at every turn, Sykes was also offering banana-inspired treats, including banana pudding, banana smoothies and peanut butter chocolate chip banana wraps.
When asked about what Banana Day is, SAC President Gabby Longenbach offers that it’s a day for students to be kids again and “go bananas.”
Whichever way you look at Banana Day, one thing is clear: It’s tradition. This is something that WCU holds close to its heart and will continue to do so for years to come.
Grace Harvey is a first-year student majoring in communication studies. She can be reached at GH872279@wcupa.edu.