SEAL is helping bring romance to campus for Valentine’s Day by hosting a speed dating event.

Speed dating will be set up at 7 p.m. Friday in the University Center Old Main Ballroom.

Britta Svoboda, senior and planner of last year’s speed dating event, said it was the first time SEAL brought the event to campus.

“Our team came up with the idea to bring it back last year,” Svoboda said. “We thought this would be a fun event to host around Valentine’s Day.”

The event last year was a huge hit for participants. More than twice the amount of students than expected attended.

“I could tell last year that everybody was having a good time,” Svoboda said. “People actually came up to me afterwards and said we should do it again, and they loved it.”

During the event, each person will have a slip of paper containing each dates name, and they will mark “yes” or “no” next to every name after each mini-date. After the event, the SEAL team will then take the slips of paper back to the SEAL office and email everyone their matches.

This year junior Brian Goetsch, also a member of the SEAL team, is in charge of hosting speed dating.

“We had a full turn out last year,” Goetsch said. “We actually had people waiting at the door in case someone dropped out and they could fill the spot.”

So far only a few students have signed up, but Goetsch said he is certain that the spots will be filled. The limit of speed daters allowed is 50.
Chartwells will cater the event, serving romantic foods such as chocolate covered strawberry’s and mini cheesecakes. There will also be a cheese tray and punch.

Participants will be able to enjoy the food as they have two-minute “dates” with each of the participants.

Participants will also be able to receive gift cards from SEAL during the event. The gift cards will be for restaurants in the Janesville and Whitewater areas, perfect gifts for a potential first date.

The event is free and includes the food and free gift card giveaways. The last day to sign up for the event is Feb. 8.

To sign up, go to the Career and Leadership Development desk located in the University Center.