UTRGV stomps it out

The Stomp is one of the ways the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley helps incoming and returning students  become more familiar with the university’s community and traditions.  

The Welcome Week event, hosted by Student Activities since UTRGV’s inception in 2015, kicks off the fall semester with activities, giveaways and organization tabling opportunities.  

The Stomp will take place from 8 p.m. to midnight on Thursday at Parking Lot E8 on the Edinburg campus.  On the Brownsville campus, the event will be held from 8 p.m. to midnight Sept. 9 on Parking Lot B.  

Crisitina Rodriguez, assistant program coordinator for Student Activities, teased that the event will have a lot to offer for students who attend, and the teams behind The Stomp have worked every year to improve.  

“What’s really exciting is that we’ve revamped  [The Stomp] over time,” she said. 

This will be the second year that The Stomp is designed as a “festival concert style,” rather than the tabling fair opportunity it was for the first eight years of operation.  

The Stomp will have activities such as carnival games, inflatable football, a gaming truck and laser tag. The wide range of activities is intentional, as Student Activities aims to appeal to as many students as possible. 

Juliette Silver, a UTRGV early childhood and care freshman said she has been looking at possible opportunities to integrate into campus life and the new student body she finds herself in. 

“I like getting the vibe of everything and seeing how others interact with each other,” Silver said. 

She said going to an event as The Stomp would help her become more connected with the UTRGV community.

Acknowledging the freshmen who will attend the event, Rodriguez wanted to have an element of student interaction that would be more comforting for the incoming Vaqueros.

Student Activities student-staff have been instructed to interact with freshmen throughout the event to ease their transition into college.

“They’ve been building those relationships with the students coming in,” Rodriguez said. 

Along with the shift into a more festival style, The Stomp contains the usual visits from businesses that students come to expect.  

“Sometimes there’s giveaways, it could be a flyer or a coupon or a sample of a food item,” Rodriguez said.
One vendor that will be at The Stomp’s Business Showcase is Anime Boom, a local anime memorabilia and collectibles shop that sells boba drinks. 

Their table at the event will contain free samples of their taro milk tea boba.

Marla Villarreal, co-owner of Anime Boom, said  The Stomp is a great chance to connect with college students through their selection of items. 
“We think that a lot of the students there would be interested in seeing what we have in our store, and maybe come check us out,” Villarreal said.

Anime Boom is attending for the first time this year, and will be stationed at the Edinburg Campus. 

For more information on The Stomp, students can visit The Stomp events page.