April 20, 2017

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the California Aggie

UC Davis celebrates its 103rd Picnic Day SERVING THE UC DAVIS CAMPUS AND COMMUNITY SINCE 1915

THEAGGIE.ORG

VOLUME 135, ISSUE 23 | THURSDAY, APRIL 20, 2017

ALEXA FONTANILLA / AGGIE

JAY GELVEZON / AGGIE FILE

BRIANA NGO / AGGIE FILE

UC Davis installs Plan B vending machine

JAY GELVEZON / AGGIE FILE

ARC vending machine sells morning-after pills, emergency contraceptive, condoms, other birth control

An Aggie tradition for everyone BY MA RLYS JE A N E features@theaggie.org

One of the most iconic and popular Aggie traditions is finally here: Picnic Day. This year, April 22 is a celebratory day that honors not just this UC Davis classic, but also the City of Davis’ Centennial as well as Earth Day. To encompass the significance of these events and holidays, this year’s Picnic Day theme is “Growing Together.” “We wanted to honor that it’s on Earth Day and the commitment this university has to sustainability,” said Chelsea Hernandez, a fourthyear design major and chair of the Picnic Day Board of Directors. “We also really wanted to incorporate the City of Davis Centennial — I mean, that’s not going to come around obviously any other time — so that was really important to us, especially because [...] the relationship that the university has with the city is very unique. There’s also [...] all the construction going on around campus, and just seeing the university grow — I feel like that’s something we also reflected on.” Picnic Day started more than 100 years ago in 1909, only a year after the university was established, when the Student Farm showcased the new dairy barn to the community. “In 1912 it became student-run and has been student run since,”

Hernandez said. “It’s grown immensely since then, [...] it’s really just to showcase what UC Davis has to offer. We publish it as a UC Davis open house. What I love hearing are the little stories that people use it as a family day as well — we have families coming back and using this day as a family reunion opportunity.” Only about 2,000 people showed up that first year with their picnic baskets to enjoy the exhibit, coffee and milk provided by the university, but Picnic Day has evolved over the century into one of the largest student run events in the nation — hosting roughly 70,000 people. “The only year I’d really gone around was my first year. I remember walking and seeing the plant sciences when they were doing the plant giveaway,” Hernandez said. “I think I was just amazed that it was so big. Stepping out your dorm and all of the sudden seeing thousands of people at your school is pretty cool.” The Picnic Day Board of Directors is made up of 16 students, and Hernandez estimates there are between 200 and 300 volunteers for the event. No matter their major, any student is encouraged to be a part of Picnic Day preparation, an endeavor that begins about a year in advance — new board members are elected after the last Picnic Day ends. “Just like [Hernandez], I began [volunteering] freshman year,” said

UC Davis joined several universities in the United States in implementing a vending machine that dispenses morning-after pills, condoms, other forms of birth control, tampons and lubricant on March 31. The vending machine, located in an Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) study room across from the Amazon mailboxes, also sells Advil and Tylenol. Parteek Singh, a former ASUCD senator and a fourth-year managerial economics major, has worked with the Student Health and Wellness Center (SHWC) and Student Health and Counseling Services (SHCS) since the fall of 2015 to advocate for this vending machine. Singh believes the discrete, readily-available and convenient ability to purchase emergency contraceptives and birth control on campus will bolster reproductive health and promote safe sex. “Fall of 2015, I ran for ASUCD elections, and the Plan B vending machine was one of my platforms,” Singh said. “My friends proposed this idea, actually. They told me about a Plan B vending machine in Pennsylvania — Shippensburg University. At the time, this seemed like one of the most impossible things to do, like ‘What? You’re running on a Plan B vending machine? That’s never going to happen! That’s going to be so expensive!’ People were excited but it didn’t seem very realistic at that time.” Lack of easy access to birth control and emergency contraceptives in a college town teeming with thousands of young adults seemed like a

PICNIC DAY on 8

PLAN B on 8

Student and local musicians hit Picnic Day stages Band-Uh!, Keni and katgrüvs among music showcases

NICKI PADAR / AGGIE

BY AL LY OV E RBAY arts@theaggie.org

It’s uncontested that Picnic Day is the largest and most well-attended event on the UC Davis campus. But between morning mimosas and the obligatory afternoon nap, many student picnickers miss out on the day’s abundance of local performers. From the intricate acoustics of fingerstyle guitarist katgrüvs to the folksy melodies of singer-songwriter Keni, Picnic Day is a rare opportunity for student musicians to showcase their talent to a diverse audience. After watching the Doxie Derby races and grabbing a much-needed solid meal, stop by the Quad, the Pavilion or the lawn in front of Rock Hall and discover some new tunes by Davis musicians. 1. katgrüvs: Quad stage, 12:20 - 12:50 p.m. Kat Gallardo, a third-year mechanical engineering major, is the brains behind the fingerstyle guitar project katgrüvs. This will be her third performance at a Picnic Day event, and she anticipates hitting the stage one more time — now with more experience and new content. “I’m gonna bring out the classics like ‘The Deedle Leedle Song’

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2. Keni: Pavilion stage, 2:25 - 3:10 p.m. With Picnic Day drawing people from outside the Davis community, performers have the opportunity to share their talents with a larger sphere of fans. Fourth-year neurology, physiology and behavioral science major Kendall Frisoli is the acoustic singer and guitarist behind the musical project Keni. She emphasized that it is this diversity

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and ‘Down to the Wire,’ and I’ll probably be introducing a couple new ones that I’ve been performing lately during the quarter,” Gallardo said. “I’m probably gonna pull out a really new one, actually, that I debuted at the Cherry Blossom Festival.” Gallardo looks forward to performing at an outdoor stage and seeing both familiar and new faces in the crowd. The sheer size of Picnic Day attracts large crowds, and with large crowds comes a high-energy audience. “You just feel the sense of community. You see people just walking around — families, students, all sorts of variety of people,” Gallardo said. “The environment all around you is just different on Picnic Day. There’s a lot of events happening; it’s not just performances. You can really just feel the energy because the Davis spirit, the Davis community is there.”

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that draws her to the Picnic Day stage. “These venues are outdoors, so that’s something unique about [Picnic Day], and just the diversity of people from families to little kids to the students — and then my dad surprised me last year,” Frisoli said. “It’s such a well-known event that you kind of hope you get unfamiliar faces that don’t come to open mic nights.” In fact, Frisoli experienced a similar situation at last year’s performance. Days after her performance, a nurse from the Student Health and Wellness Center approached her explaining she had attended Frisoli’s show. “I perform, and I kind of see in the distance a familiar face, and [they] had a camera and I didn’t think anything of it,” Frisoli said. “Then I had a doctor’s appointment at the Student Health Center a couple of weeks later, and it was one of the nurses I had seen so many times, and she brings me printouts of photos she had taken. Like how sweet! So she’s gonna come again this year.” Similar to Gallardo, she hopes to see a few fellow friends among the sea of unidentifiable picnickers. “You don’t know who’s going to be there — it’s like seeing people and teachers in a different setting; that is what I find fun about Picnic Day.” 3. Cal Aggie Marching Band-Uh! at Battle of the Bands: Mrak Hall, 2 - 10 p.m. Among classics like the Doxie Derby and the parade, Battle of the Bands is a Picnic Day staple. In attendance this year are the UC Irvine Anteater Band, the UC San Diego Pepband, the Cal Band and others. “Picnic Day is a really big deal because it’s a full-day event,” said Rina Haack, a fourth-year comparative literature and biological sciences double major and the PR manager for Band-Uh! “At 6 a.m. we meet to get ready and then do the parade. We rally with the alumni at Wellman Hall, which is always fun because you get to see friends maybe you haven’t seen in awhile.” The rules are simple: you can’t repeat a song, the last band to play their fight song wins, and the last song played must be the Aggie Fight Song. Simply put, Band-Uh! Is always the winner. “We do battle for about eight hours,” Haack said. “We get to see the work we put in really come together.” Make sure to also check out these student musicians performing at Picnic Day: CryWolffs Violin: Quad stage, 2:30 - 3 p.m. Tempura: Rock Hall Lawn, 3:20 - 4:05 p.m. Samantha Sipin: ARC stage, 11:20 - 11:50 a.m.


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