SA sophomore and junior class officers have pooled their resources to rent out the Abilene Zoo from 4-6 p.m. Wednesday evening.

This year, SA allocated $1,000 to each of the four classes with the hope that class officers would put on bigger events. With the increased amount of funds, the sophomore and junior classes began brainstorming ideas for an end of semester event.

Caleb Orr, sophomore class president and political science major from McKinney, said the two classes were looking for “a really out of the cage idea.”

“We originally wanted to do a Narnia-themed event,” Orr said. “That brought up the idea for lions, and where else are their lions in Abilene besides the zoo?”

Orr, along with Ashlyn Anthony, sophomore graphic design major from Dallas, and Morgan Jennings, sophomore accounting major from Abilene, secured the zoo rental and are inviting all students to come and enjoy the evening.

“Ashlyn and Caleb have been working really hard on this event and I can’t wait to see how it turns out,” said Jennings, sophomore class treasurer.

Orr called the event a “Christmas Zoocial” complete with live music from recording artist Andrew Holmes and zoo train rides around the property. T-shirts will also be available to purchase for $15.

All of these components of the event are made possible by the funds available to the class officers.

“The increased amount of class funds gave us a ton of flexibility and I think opened up the cooperation process,” Orr said. “Being able to work with the junior class not only increases unity between classes but allows for a greater aggregation of funds in order to put on more unique and empowering student events.”