As night came after the slightly damp day last Friday, Blue Apollo took their place on the Dallas City Limit stage. At this point in the night, a decent crowd had gathered for one of the several performances of the event, hosted by SMU Program Council. The event, also called “DCL”, capped off the first week of the annual Mustang Welcome Weeks.

“The success of this event has definitely been a great experience for the start of the new year,” said Joanna Khorey, SMU junior and a programming chair of Program Council, which brought over 600 students to Dallas Hall Lawn throughout the day.

Mustang Welcome Weeks 2016, funded by Program Council, currently consists of 13 social events hosted by SMU organizations and is welcome to any SMU student during the first six weeks of school.

“Mustang Welcome Weeks purpose and goal is to help integrate newcomers into the SMU community and to introduce SMU and greater Dallas as a whole,” said Hanna Dodd, second-year and one of Program Council’s programming coordinators.

SMU administration yearly allocates $55,000 for Mustang Welcome Weeks programs, according to Katie Butler, Mustang Welcome Weeks Director.

The activities kicked off with The Big Chill, hosted by Association of Black Students (ABS) on Aug. 22 and ends on Sept. 30 with Broomball, hosted by Asian Council.

Program Council features different organizations to encourage students to try different groups to find their specific niche. This year’s involved organizations include Spectrum, Association of Black Students, Asian Council, the engineering fraternity “Theta Tau,” BYX and Phi Lamb, STUMO, East Asian Student Association, CHAS and Sigma Lambda Beta

“Whether it’s finding your passion, your new best friend, or just a fun way to spend your night once a week, we all want everyone who experiences MWW events to become more involved on campus,” said William Hagens, executive member of SMU Program Council.

Last spring, organizations applied to Program Council for funding to put on these open campus events.

“Program Council facilitates it and stands by to assist if needed, but the majority of the work is done by other organizations on campus,” said Hagens.

While some events such as Dallas City Limits have come and passed, other annual events such as Drag Bingo and Stroll at the Flagpole are expected in later weeks. Program Council is also hosting a new event this year called Sugar Rush, which will feature candy galore, free t-shirts and music.

Once these six weeks are over, Program Council has other events planned throughout the semester to continue providing avenues for Mustang interaction.

“I hope that people take advantage of the events that MWW puts on, so that they can find the people that are interested in the same things they are, and have a great time at events that other students work hard to put together,” said Joanna Khorey, SMU junior and a programming chair of Program Council.

For a full schedule of events, visit the Mustang Welcome Weeks website.