P.U.L.S.E. Hosts Streetball for Autism
Published by May 9, 2018 | By Cameron Beall
P.U.L.S.E., a student government organization which stands for Programming for Unique, Lively, Student Experience, held a “Streetball for Autism” to help spread autism awareness. The event took place on April 23rd at the Miron Student Center basketball courts, and featured a 5 on 5 full court pick up game between Kean students. April is National Autism Awareness Month.
“I wanted to spread awareness about autism and to also bring the community of Kean together at the same time during one event”, said event coordinator Donyea Curry when asked about what made her come up with the idea to create this event.
The P.U.L.S.E. organization’s objective is for the students involved to plan educated, fun events that they think other students on campus would want to partake in and enjoy. The people in the crowd certainly believe that they succeeded at doing so.
“It was great. Amazing weather, good turn out and the game was intense. The puzzle pieces that people made for the puzzle wall were so cute,” said Kean sophomore Selena Peters, who attended the game with four of her friends.
The origins of the puzzle piece is the primary symbol for autism, dating back to 1963. The board members for the National Autistic Society in London believed that autistic people suffered from a ‘puzzling’ condition.
What made the event even more interesting was the majorette dance team called ‘Top Notch’ that came out to perform. They danced to the side of the crowd throughout the duration of the game, and gave an impressive performance during halftime on the main court.
“The majorette dance team put on a show. They danced the whole time and then had a lit half time performance. They definitely made us girls want to stay since we like dancing a little bit more than basketball,” said Peters.
Team 1 played a hard fought game and came out on top with the victory over Team 2, and they were the recipients of $25 gift cards.
“People did not have to pay to come see the game and were not obligated to donate, but we did pass around a bucket and most people who were there put some type of money in. We donated the money to a charity that supports autism awareness”, said Curry.