This is the first time the UAB has hosted an event such as this, UAB chairperson and psychology senior Erin Welsh said.

Welsh said she and the other members of the human resources committee came up with the event as a way to promote student interaction.

“We (wanted) people to come out and have a good time,” she said. “And for this event more than others, get out and meet people.”

At a series of tables set up around the ballroom, two people sat across from each other and had three minutes to get to know one another.

After each conversation, the participants were given a few minutes to fill out an evaluation sheet for their counterpart and then rotated to the next table and the next mini-date.

Khadijah Shabazz, a prenursing freshman, said she went to the event because it was a chance to get out of the dorm and do something with her friends.

Shabazz said wasn’t looking for a relationship, but the event was a good chance to make friends.

“(I came out) to actually have fun and meet a couple new people,” she said. “(It sounded like) something fun to do instead of being in the room studying all the time.”

But other students, such as prenursing freshman Nathan Single, were looking for something a little more serious.

Single said he saw a sign advertising the event on the way back from his statistics class and saw an opportunity to meet someone special.

“I’m looking for a relationship,” Single said. “I’m hoping to have a relationship that goes somewhere.”

After all the date cycles were complete and the evaluation sheets turned in, there was a mixer for students to meet the participants they didn’t have a chance to sit down with or to continue previous conversations that were cut short.

Some students, such as political science junior Tommy Garretson, who did not attend the event, said they would prefer more traditional methods of meeting people to alternatives such as speed dating.

Garretson said his only experience with speed dating was seeing it portrayed in the movie, “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.” But he said speed dating and online dating are becoming more prominent ways of meeting people.

“I think it could be a fun way to meet people,” Garretson said. “Maybe not the most serious thing, but you never know what could happen.”

At the end of the event, the UAB officials looked at evaluation sheets for any potential matches and will notify the participants of their mutual love prospects within the next two weeks.

Welsh said the event was a way for students to meet other students with similar interests, even if wedding bells aren’t necessarily in the future.

“First and foremost, we want people to have fun,” Welsh said. “You may not want to date the person but you still may want to be friends.”