CSUN student housing residents gathered on April 24 for a fun night at an exclusive western-themed event held at the student housing sports lawn. Matachella is an annual event that’s only open to current residents.

“If you’re living in student housing and you’re our age, you can be prone to loneliness or being by yourself a lot, this just brings everybody together,” said Brent Klemer, Cinema and Television Arts major.

The Resident Halls Association (RHA) encouraged students to wear their best Western gear and embrace the theme.

RHA president Christian Loza said the main idea behind the theme was inspired by looking at past event archives and trying to bring back Western tradition.

“It’s kinda like our end of the year send off to all the residents,” Loza said.

Loza explained that this event is available only to residents due to the limited funding that the RHA receives.

Activities such as decorating tote bags, bracelet making, henna tattoos, lawn games, caricature drawings, food trucks, a photo booth and talent show were set up for students to enjoy.

“It’s a really great way where we’re directly in our community and get to mingle with our residents directly,” said Loza

Film major Kaelyn Bassett attended Matachella for the first time and could not wait to see what the night had in store after grabbing her free food and standing in line for a henna tattoo.

She appreciated that resident-only events allow seeing familiar faces within the student housing community.

“It’s definitely nice seeing people that I know that live on campus…it’s an opportunity to meet people that you live with within the community,” Bassett said.

The lineup of activities was promoted leading up to the event, but the RHA surprised the students with a live petting zoo and an In-N-Out food truck, both of which were major hits.

Returning to Matachella for the second time was public health major RJ Santos, who said this Spring event was better than the first one he attended.

“They got more activities than before, they have new ones,” he said.

DJ Julian Keyz played the tunes before it was time for the talent show performers to put on their best act.

Like other students, film major Edgar Perez ranked Matachella in the top three events for student housing residents.

“I think it’s nice for them [RHA] to have fun special events for us just because we’re always here. I think it’s nice because you know we’re really a community and we’re always here 24/7,” Perez said.

For more information on future RHA events, visit their website.