Whether there is an hour to kill between classes or time on a Thursday night to see a live show, UNIQUE seems to always have something new to offer for Sac State students.

UNIQUE is a program at Sac State that has put educational, multicultural, musical and art performances on campus since 1978.

Program adviser Ajamu Lamumba, accompanied by program assistant Carly Preston, runs the program along with 60 to 80 registered volunteers.

Preston has been the program assistant since spring 2014, and this is her fourth year being a part of UNIQUE.

“My sister was actually in UNIQUE when she was here, and I actually used to kind of come and hang out with her over summer, because she was also the programs assistant,” said Preston. “I’ve known about UNIQUE since I was in sixth or seventh grade. And when I started college that was pretty much the first table I went to at orientation was UNIQUE’s, just to see if I wanted to try it out too, and I’ve been here ever since.”

UNIQUE offers on average two events per week, nooners on Wednesdays that are mostly local bands, with the occasional game show or documentary. In addition to Thursday night events, and concerts like Sage the Gemini coming to campus on April 9.

The University Union gets a certain amount from tuition fees and UNIQUE uses part of that to fund their program to bring in performers. Associated Students Inc. helps fund their multicultural events.

“The majority of our events are free, the vast majority, because we figure it’s already pretty much kind of being paid for in your tuition anyways so we don’t want to charge you extra for that, ‘cause that would just be ridiculous,” said Preston. “We charge based on our concerts and our bigger events ‘cause we have to put a lot more into that.”

Nooners are always free for anybody interested in going. With the help of their street team and volunteers who help with advertisement, they are able to put up flyers at approved local businesses. When UNIQUE does have to charge for larger concerts it is never more than $20 for students.

Benjamin Tarango, Isabela Casillas and Cynthia Mar are Sac State students and volunteers for UNIQUE. What attracted them most to the program were all the people they met and the community they are a part of.

“I came to a meeting and it was cool, I was a freshmen at the time, I didn’t really know that many people so when I got there it was a good opener to meet people from a variety of places,” said Tarango.

UNIQUE is always looking for students interested in volunteering and anybody who is looking to be involved with events.

“It’s kind of cool ‘cause we get a whole variety of students, where as like other academic programs you won’t see that variety, because you’ll have all one major,” said Preston. “We have majors ranging from government, history, criminal justice, – I’m chemistry – film, English; so it’s kind of like the whole spectrum. It’s a lot of diverse people you get to meet in UNIQUE.”

Students can join by showing up to a meeting or going to their booth and signing up. Casillas enjoyed the events, like and Fun, when she was a freshman. Casillas found out who was putting on the shows and decided to join.

“We’re all at the events all the time, we all hang out here [UNIQUE office]” said Casillas. “My best friends are all here.”

This is Mar’s first year at UNIQUE and she already feels connected and a part of the UNIQUE community. They plan socials on the weekends to get together and bond outside of volunteering, and Tarango said there is a place for anybody on the team.

“It’s a home away from home,” said Mar. “Somewhere we can come, and we know, we know everyone here.”