A small group of hopeful romantics gathered in the Charles Commons Multipurpose room Friday night for a speed dating event hosted by community service group Circle K, raising money for UNICEF’s Eliminate Project, which works to eradicate maternal and neonatal tetanus.
“It makes for a great line when people ask what I did this weekend,” junior Ian Anderson said. “It’s interesting trying to sell yourself in six minutes.”
Eleven students, ranging from freshmen to postgraduates, attended the event.
“I was abroad last semester, and my goal was to try new and exciting things,” Anderson said.
Alexis Sears, a sophomore, agreed, and also said she liked the charitable aspect of the event.
“It seemed like a good opportunity to meet new people and it’s for a good cause,” Sears said.
Wenjun Gu, a Carey Business School student from China, said that she was intrigued by the concept of speed dating, which she said was just taking off in China.
“Speed dating exists in big cities,” Wenjun said. “It is usually held by profitable organizations, restaurants and bars. It is new. It seems that Chinese prefer to date people who share the same friend circle with them…I am curious about how it goes in the U.S. and I am trying to meet new and interesting people.”
The event was Circle K’s first foray into the world of speed dating.
“Every year we do a fund for UNICEF’s Eliminate Project, which is an initiative to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus,” junior and Circle K officer Russell Hughes said. “Normally we sell candy grams in the cold, and we generally don’t do so well. It’s really hit or miss.”
When discussing different Valentine’s Day-themed projects, speed dating stood out for its originality.
After stating their sexual preference and paying the three-dollar entry fee, male and female students paired up and sat at different tables. They had six minutes to talk about whatever they wanted with questions provided by Circle K available to facilitate conversation.
“Everyone is too wrapped up in their books,” Hughes said. “We figured that it would attract a lot of people because of that stereotype.”
Sears characterized dating at Hopkins as “abysmal.”
“People are really focused on their studying and they don’t make it a priority to have a relationship,” Sears said.
Anderson said he thinks the dating scene is weak.
“It’s funny when you look at other schools and it’s more dating-focused in the sense that it’s almost socially expected for when you pursue somebody to consciously say you’re dating,” Anderson said. “I think at Hopkins we have a dating scene, but nobody’s really admitting that certain things are dates. We’re kind of caught up in this world of ‘Oh, I’m going to try to be cooler than the other person and play games.’ But in the end, does anybody want to play these games?”
Sears and Anderson took different positions on the influence of casual sex on the dating scene.
“I think hook-up culture is starting to prevail,” Sears said. “Everyone I know has a Tinder, and they’re looking to hookup, which is fine. I don’t want to say they fear commitment, but maybe they don’t necessarily want to make the commitment when they could just hook up.”
Anderson countered that ‘hook-up culture’ is not lessening people’s desire for relationships, but is interfering with the success of the relationships.
“I wouldn’t say ‘hook-up culture,’” Anderson said. “[In a] culture that encourages hook-ups, people are trying to find relationships.”
Hughes said he thought the turn-out was low because of limited advertising. Circle K did not make a Facebook page for the event until Feb. 12, the day before the event.
“We put it on the announcements, which ended up on there for one day. I forgot that you had to refresh it every single day,” Hughes said. “We put posters up in every place Residential Life says you can, and in the places that are unregulated.”
Hughes said that Circle K might be hosting another speed dating event in the future.
“We might end up doing this again with more Facebook publicity and making sure it’s on the [daily] announcements every day,” said Hughes. “Probably in the next two-to-three weeks.”
Anderson said he was eager for the next event.
“I’m always interested in speed dating,” Anderson said.
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