The Wildcat Events Board is bringing a water park to the UA the week before finals to help students relax.

WEB spent about $4,500 of its own funds to bring a 27-foot water slide, a bungee trampoline, a blow up slip ‘n slide, popcorn, cotton candy and snow cones to the UA Mall on Wednesday, according to Kayla Fiore, director-elect of Wild Nights for WEB and a music freshman.

Since WEB’s Water Park Day was such a success last year, WEB members decided to bring it back this year, Flore said.

“It was successful last year, and we had a lot of good feedback on it from the students,” said Jocelin Calcagno, the current Wild Nights director and a public health sophomore. “It was around finals time [last year], so it kind of gave students a break from studying for a few hours and [the chance] to just enjoy the start of summer.”

The initial idea for Water Park Day was confirmed in January, which is when WEB members needed to submit their proposals for the semester’s events, according to Calcagno. The proposal took a month of planning, he added.

Although the event will be held again this year, certain attractions that were at last year’s Water Park Day will not return.

“Last year we had the world’s largest water slide and an obstacle course that weren’t used a lot and a mechanical surfboard,” Calcagno said. “We kind of eliminated the stuff students didn’t take
advantage of to save us more money.”

Despite the minor changes in attractions, some students said it would provide a nice break from
studying.

“I might go,” said Deb Garcia, an English sophomore. “I’ve seen the jumping castles and the big rides [on the Mall], so it’s kind of a nice break.”

However, other students said they wished the event fell on a weekend.

“I was thinking of going, but I don’t think I would actually go,” said Helen Oberuch, a business freshman. “If it was on the weekend, it would have been better.”

The event is free to students and lasts from noon to 3 p.m. Wednesday.