Aaron Johnson – General Assignment Reporter
As the final week of classes rapidly approaches, the residents of Southern Connecticut State University went all out for the annual campus wide Hall Olympics. Each residence hall competes in various games ranging from kickball, basketball, dodgeball, and everything in between. Moore Field house on campus was littered with students from all over Southern, each hall wearing specialized team uniforms. But Chase Hall out-shined the rest, taking the trophy for the second time in four years.
“I liked the energy,” said freshman and Chase Hall resident Alexander Williams. “I thought it was gonna be regular, I thought it would be a little corny. But when we got there I saw there was a lot of school spirit and it made me want to put on a show for the people.”
Williams, who also plays football at Southern, participated in several events including basketball. Although Chase fell short to Brownell Hall in basketball, they were able to get the last laugh in the final standings as they outlasted the other halls. “It was real nice to see everyone from the school to come out, competing, having fun, and showing everyone the talents that they have. It was real fun,” said Kayjuan Bynum, a resident of Chase.
Although Bynum and Williams both had two different favorite events – basketball and kickball respectively – they said that they are already looking forward to next year and defending the title. “We’re going to try to three peat as a core group,” said Williams. “We have about eight freshman, all football players so it’s gonna be hard to stop.”
Throughout the afternoon, several other residences halls came close to beating out the eventual champs, Chase. Brownell hall – behind several of the men’s basketball team – won both the kickball and basketball event. While Wilkinson Hall won dodgeball and collected all 10 items on the scavenger hunt. But Chase dominated the majority of events finishing in the top three in most events.
“It feels great,” said Samantha Diaz, the vice president of the Chase Hall council. “We had a blast. I think it feels amazing to know that we worked so hard to get to that point and we actually got it. That was our goal at the beginning of the year and we actually accomplished it.”
The most competitive games of the day were basketball, dodgeball, and kickball, with dodgeball and kickball going down to the wire. The final events of the day – the three-legged race and the clothes relay – had strong showings from both Schwartz Hall and Farnham Hall. For those who did not participate, sophomore Jen Raffile said she thinks hearing about how much fun everyone had will make new students come out and participate next year. “I feel that like people who don’t participate are going to be more energetic with it now that we won,” she said. “Hopefully those people do it next year and get more involved in the last couple of weeks of school.”
Diaz said that not only does she agree that bringing the trophy back to Chase for the residents who did not participate to see, will motivate them for next year, but also that being a resident also helps
make the victory that much sweeter.
“The trophy’s definitely gonna be motivational for them to come,” Diaz said. “I feel like because we are on the hall council we know how much work it takes to like win and set everything up. Before we were just residents so we also know how that feels, and maybe just the fact that we won will be more of a motivation for residence to come to our meetings more.”
