Students from every corner of the quad and beyond participated in the annual Battle of the Buildings from Friday, September 16 through Sunday, September 18.
Commuters were also able to participate in this Residence Hall Association organized event. “If any commuters have made friends in a specific residence hall, they are more than welcome to join that team on the day of events. Also, there is an off-campus team, which would be made up of our off campus apartments (Diplomats, Fountain Gardens and Pier Village), and we have encouraged commuters to show up on the day of the events and join that team,” said Eric Mochnacz, Area Coordinator.
Battle of the Buildings did not pop up overnight, but rather took months of planning. According to Mochnacz, “Planning for Battle of the Buildings begins right after the previous year’s Battle of the Buildings ends, believe it or not. RHA meets to discuss what went well, what we need to improve upon, and any additions we want to make to the next year’s program.”
Some new events for this year’s Battle of the Buildings were awarding spirit points for attending the fall carnival (a non-RHA event), tropical themed food and obstacle course, “Human Battleship”, and a reinvented Pie Eating Contest and Relay Races. Returning activities included the Wing Bowl, Poker, Tug-Of-War, and Can You Build it? These events had collected roughly 950 lbs. of food last year toward the First Year Service Project, according to Susan Damaschke.
The Fall Carnival, sponsored by Student Activities Board and Phi Kappa Psi, took place in Parking Lot 6 on Friday from 49. The Hurricane, a tilt-o-whirl type ride, towered behind Cedar, and classic carnival games were adjacent to it. An all access pass for students was $2 (for food, rides, games, etc.) or $3 which included a small donation to the Kourtney Rose Foundation: a nonprofit organization that directly benefits pediatric brain tumor research at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, according to their website. Students left the event carrying small stuffed animal prizes and cotton candy.
Human Battleship was held on Saturday night around 8 pm. Bryan Cucinotta, a sophomore representing Spruce, recalls the experience.
“Human Battleship was an amazing, yet hopefully, a onetime experience for me,” said Cucinotta. “It was an amazing and fun experience and winning the whole competition was definitely worth it.”
Sunday held the main events, including Tug-Of-War. Students not competing cheered their neighbors on while sporting their colors from headbands down to socks and the occasional tutu. Additionally, they held signs reading “Go Beech Go!” and “We Bleed Purple” and pompoms. There were several popular techniques for whoever held the end of the rope, the most common having the rope tied around the waist and crawling as far as one could.
Katie Musa, a sophomore representing Willow, enjoyed participating in the tug-of-war, as well as other Battle of the Buildings events. “Tug of War was actually fun because I got to play with some people from Willow I didn’t know until then. Our team was thrown together in the last minute, but we won two out of three wars we were in! I also participated in the hula hooping competition and volleyball which was fun, but we didn’t really come close to winning,” she said.
On campus apartments placed second for Tug-of-war, and Beechwood 1st. However, the final tally had crowned on-campus apartments the champions.
PHOTO COURTESY of Kim Grier
