2026 Reading Day Recap

Happy (late) New Year, SCD fans! My name is Madison and I am one of our concierge team members! I am currently a senior studying Marketing and have been with Siebel Center for Design for the past semester. A little about me though before we dive right in; I love all things matcha especially the process of making the drink, baking matcha desserts, anything really. I also love listening to new music, some current favorite artists are Tame Impala, Daniel Caesar, and Taylor Swift. The spring semester has been off to a great start (except the freezing weather) but I’m excited to be writing my first story for SCD–I hope you all enjoy!

A new year with new events are happening this semester for SCD and we couldn’t be more excited. Before we dive right into 2026 events, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on one of our favorite events from the Fall 2025 semester; Reading Day!

On Reading Day, students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign celebrate the end of classes. Students can choose to spend Reading Day relaxing after a busy semester, getting organized for finals week, or catching up with friends on Green Street. In addition, many buildings and programs on campus offer little goodies to help students power through finals week– SCD included! 

This semester, our Marketing Concierge team tackled the responsibility of hosting Reading Day. Our main goal was to create a chill, welcoming environment for students to travel through as they find a study spot. Our team brainstormed different ways to invite students into our spaces; we thought of various snacks/drinks to offer, what craft ideas might help students de-stress, and overall what represents SCD! The team leaned into their student minds and thought, “What do I need as a student?” To no one’s surprise, the team immediately came up with: caffeine and free food (highly emphasizing the free aspect). We understood that college students are merely just trying to survive finals week and want all the support they can get. What better support than a sweet treat and a drink that helps them power through the night! 

To tackle this, our team began to contact a variety of companies that we thought might want to sponsor our little shindig. We reached out to companies like Redbull, Celsius, Bubbl’r, 7Brew, and more! We explained to these companies that our team would like to work with them and offer our own marketing services to help promote their products, in exchange for a variety of their drinks. Luckily, Bubbl’r was gracious enough to send us a few cases of their sparkling energy drinks! To show our appreciation to Bubbl’r we created some Instagram stories showcasing our set-up and students enjoying the drinks– thank you @ Bubbl’r! 

In addition, we set up a few stations around the building for students to check out. Next to our Bubbl’r station on the first floor was also a DIY hot chocolate/chai bar and a cookie crafting station. We offered students a place to decorate sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles– to share some holiday spirit of course! Students enjoyed taking a small break from studying and coming over with friends to decorate their yummy cookies; we loved seeing everyone's artistic creations as well! Downstairs in The Shop, we also hosted a DIY stress ball making table. Students (and staff) were whipping up oobleck filled balloons to create a fun de-stressing toy in preparation for their exams. Finally, in the Media Studio, we looped various ASMR videos, set up with cozy chairs for students to lounge in, device-free. A fan favorite was the waves crashing alongside rocks! 

Overall, our Marketing Team had a blast planning an event like Reading Day! It taught the team so many new skills, like professional emailing, coordinating budgets, and different ways to engage with their audience. We can’t wait for what events are in store for 2026 and are excited to spread the SCD joy even more around campus!