Pumpkin picking and paint made for the best fall recipe for Pace students to get in to the spirit of Fall and get their minds away from midterms at Alumni Lawn on Saturday.

Programming Board transformed the typically plain lawn, and covered it with pumpkins and fall decorations for students to re-create the atmosphere of a real pumpkin patch.

“A lot of students, especially freshman, don’t have cars. We thought this was a great way to bring the things they could possibly miss out on to them,” said Izabella Morris, the Social Media Manager of Programming Board.

Students came in groups and were new to the art of pumpkin picking and were very excited to partake in the festivities.

“I love Fall so much and this pumpkin is my baby. I’m going to name it Rafael,” said Shaiwen Wang, a freshman at Pace.

After picking their pumpkin, students were directed to tables at Kessel Student Center to paint them.

Hour after hour, groups of friends and roommates from every building came together to create a new memory together and helped each other pick the best pumpkin and design for their room.

“This is another one of those bonding activities that new students and freshman tend to do with their whole suite and then never forget about for the rest of their college career,” said Morris.

At the Kessel Student Center, students got very creative and did time-consuming designs such as: pride flags, galaxies, and intricate faces.

“I’m not sure what I want to do yet, but I think I’m going to paint a cow on my pumpkin,” said Jenny Marbella, a sophomore at Pace.

Some students came to the event to get away from the stress of their mid-terms and do something fun with their friends.

“Every time I look at this pumpkin, I’ll remember that I did at least one fun thing this week and be a little happier even though I’m really overwhelmed,” said Eily Jones, a freshman at Pace.

Members of the Programming Board believe that making use of the quad between Elm and Alumni Hall can be a great way to have these bonding events, because it gives students a chance to interact and meet people outside of their graduating class.

“We want more people to talk to each other. Sometimes freshmen only know other freshmen and don’t really talk to upperclassmen,” said Morris.

Other students decided on not decorating it and doing other festive activities with their friends with the pumpkin.

“I’m not going to decorate mine. This might be a little weird but I’m gonna see if I can find a recipe and make pumpkin pie out of it with my friends,” said Melissa DiNucci, a junior at Pace.