Human biology sophomore Jayanti Collins chose to volunteer at this year’s Spartan Remix. She remembers attending the event as a freshman and how helpful it was as someone who was new to campus. 

"I accessed a bunch of resources, got in contact with a lot of organizations that were pro-Black, pro-minority, so it was just a good vibe here," Collins said. 

The set up of Spartan Remix is similar to that of Sparticipation, MSU’s annual registered student organization (RSO) event where every RSO comes together to promote their clubs. However, Spartan Remix is a scaled-down version that prioritizes multicultural groups on campus. 

"It creates a space for minorities and people of color to come and find their people easily," Collins said. "At Sparticipation, it’s a lot. It’s hard to navigate, but here it’s all right in front of you. Super easy, great energy."

Environmental engineering junior Aleida Contreras and experienced architecture sophomore TreShai Hubbard co-founded the RSO Women of Color in STEM. Contreras said Spartan Remix was a great way for them to not only connect with students of color on a more accessible scale, but also allowed them to get to know other organizations. 

"I think it’s a great opportunity to bring minorities closer to one another," Contreras said. "Not only do we get to connect with students who are more our targeted demographic, but we get to connect with organizations that have the same goal as us, that is focusing on minorities."

At Sparticipation, many of the student organizations are separated from one another because of how the event is organized. 

"In things like Sparticipation we don’t get to see each other because it’s so large," Contreras said. "So this narrows that section down because we’re all minority focused, and unfortunately at Sparticipation we’re not in the same area." 

Hubbard said that WOCSTEM was able to connect with other RSO’s almost immediately at Spartan Remix. 

"You can meet a bunch of other multicultural orgs," she said. "We’ve met so many people so far that we want to collaborate with already because we want to expand both our memberships."

The theme of this year’s Spartan Remix was Fostering Community Through Collaboration and Connection. Head of the planning committee and OCAT’s student success initiative coordinator Devon Kuwanquaftewa said that when planning the theme and the event itself, student voice was prioritized. 

"Initially what we did was we reached out to the students to see who would be interested in planning this year’s Spartan Remix and then from those responses we built ourselves a committee," he said. 

The student committee was made up of four individuals, all of whom helped to plan the event alongside Kuwanquaftewa and OCAT.  

"A lot of them wanted to celebrate happiness, but also wanted to celebrate how we need to come together as a community to achieve a greater goal," Kuwanquaftewa said. 

In addition to the multitude of RSO’s that were highlighted, multiculturalism and community on campus were celebrated through performances that were put on by groups and artists throughout the event. The student committee had a large say in what performances were put on as well, Kuwanquaftewa said. 

The performers at Spartan Remix were Rodney Lamar Page, Amauri Park, CTRL+A, MSU Ballroom Dance, Fantasia Ballet Folklorico, Pass Dance Crew, Urban Dreams and the African Student Union. 

"Ideally, (the student committee) just wanted a place where organizations were able to connect, from different backgrounds, and I think this is the perfect environment for that," Kuwanquaftewa said.