Abbot Casino
Exonians took a break on Saturday from their busy winter term schedules to dress up and gather in Grainger Auditorium to spend their evenings “gambling,” taking photographs and playing casino games.
The uppers of Abbot Hall planned the annual event, and Abbot residents managed the booths, helping with setup on Saturday night. Once the casino company arrived, the boys received brief training on how to deal at different tables. The doors of Grainger Auditorium opened at 8 pm.
“It’s always fun to have some fun with people you personally know at the poker table,” he said. “More satisfying than setting up a party is probably the realization that you’ve set up a successful party.”
Assistant Director of Student Activities Kelly McGahie said that Abbot Casino provided students with an opportunity to relax amidst the academic stress of the term and harshness of winter. “I think it’s one of the things that I’m very mindful of, and the events give students a chance to really disengage from the rigorous academics,” she said. “I want them to have fun!”
McGahie described the planning process as a collaborative experience between the students’ vision for the night and her own expertise on the event’s logistics. “I sit down with a group [from Abbot] and we try and help them figure out what their theme is and do we have enough decorations and stuff like that,” McGahie said. “Abbot is really responsible for doing a lot of the other work that goes with it, in terms of promotion; making their Abbot money, making posters and advertising the event on social media.”
Abbot resident Daniel Kang felt similarly, saying that he especially enjoyed managing his booth. “It’s always fun to have some fun with people you personally know at the poker table,” he said. “More satisfying than setting up a party is probably the realization that you’ve set up a successful party.”
Kang also described how students take a variety of photos at the event. “It’s definitely nice that our event remains as one of the most ‘photo-friendly’ parties of the year,” he said.
In fact, taking photos was many people’s favorite part of the event. “I didn’t really get a chance to play, but at the same time it was really fun hanging out with people and taking pictures,” prep Haya Firas said.
Taking photos was senior Jackie Brenner’s favorite part of the night as well. “My friends and I took a bunch of pictures,” she said. “Every ten minutes, the lights turned off so kids could grab [poker] chips, but I really didn’t care about that because I was busy taking pictures with my friends the entire time.”
McGahie attributed the abundant interest in photography to social media. “Social media has had a significant effect not only Abbot Casino, but almost all of our other events,” she said. “Everybody’s taking pictures for Snapchat and Facebook.”
Prep Meredith Thomas also enjoyed taking pictures with her friends at the event. However, she left quickly due to long lines at booths and a lack of understanding of the casino games. “In the future, I hope that Abbot can somehow regulate how long people can stay at a booth,” she said. “I also wish that the game instructions were more explicit; I would go up to some booths and not know how to play.” Firas added that she would also like to see a larger variety of games in the future, saying that “having more casino games other than card games would be nice.”
Lower Leah Cohen agreed with Thomas. “I didn’t stay longer because all of my friends were leaving and I don’t really play casino games,” she said. Cohen felt that spending time with friends were students’ primary reasons for attending the event. “People talk up Abbot Casino to be the event that you dress up for, go and have fun for about an hour, take pictures, then leave,” she said. “The event turned out exactly as described.”
Brenner shared Cohen’s sentiments. “My friends didn’t even check in because we knew we weren’t going to play any games,” Brenner said. “We basically just walked around, looked at everyones’ outfits and just talked to people.”
Students enjoyed the evening and felt that Abbot Casino was a pleasant way to both take a break from academics and catch up with friends. Kang reflected on his own satisfaction with the event, saying, “There’s great joy to be had with the knowledge that you have contributed to creating a fun night for somebody else.”