Fall Events See Rousing Student Appreciation

By: Nhan Phan

Five and a half weeks into the year, campus is bustling with noise. The screaming and yelling of elite athletes throwing foam dodgeballs at each other mixed with the smell of corn dogs, donut sundaes, nachos with cheese, and cotton candy reminds us of the campus we love and share. With a plethora of events happening over the past several weeks, campus life is thriving back to pre-pandemic levels. 

Over the past several weeks, Student Activities, the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA), and Student Council planned and operated several events on campus. Some notable events included the Thinkfast Trivia Show, Exeter Carnival, Dodgeball Tournament, Hispanic Heritage Month Bob Ross Painting, and film showings. 

The Thinkfast Trivia Show attracted the attention of numerous students where one student could win $200 in cash by answering a series of trivia questions. Lower and Thinkfast participant David Goodall enjoyed the event. “The Thinkfast trivia show is really fun. I really enjoy having the opportunity to hang out with friends and meet new people, and the Thinkfast was a good chance for that.”

Lower Oluwagbemiga Salu won the $200 prize. “It was definitely very intense. Like everyone was really trying to answer those questions as best as they could, but despite it being so intense, it was still pretty lighthearted and everyone was just trying to have fun, so it didn't get too serious, but it was still pretty intense,” Salu said. 

Assistant Director of Student Activities Kelly McGahie also appreciated the turnout at the year's Thinkfast. “This year's crowd was bigger and definitely more energetic than I've ever had for that event in the past. And I think the timing of the event, meaning closer to the start of the school year, really made a huge difference.”

One of the most popular events that happened so far is the schoolwide Dodgeball Tournament organized by Student Council and Student Activities. Upper and Student Council Recreation Committee co-head Ale Murat described its success. “I feel like last year it was well organized, but this year...we had a better plan in place,” Murat said. “And I think people had fun, which was at the end of the day, my job. That's what I want to make sure: the student body knows that they can have fun and de-stress and there's some healthy competition.”

“I think the Dodgeball tournament was fun. It was a good way to distract myself from all of the work we had that week,” Lower Dubem Akunyili said. “I think it was well put together. And it was great to see a good turnout with a lot of people.”

Senior and dodgeball team captain Alexander Luque shared his thoughts about the event. “Oh boy, it was very competitive. I think it was playful. It was energetic. I mean, I think it was chaotic. I think it was disappointing for some, there were some big upsets. I know my team beat the PG team and that was kind of unexpected… I think our school is competitive by Exeter nature.”

While organizing the dodgeball event was a challenge last year, McGahie offered her thoughts on the event. “Last year's Dodgeball event was super overcrowded and super chaotic. And I mean the Student Council Rec people, while they did a great job of running it, it was also when we were in super COVID mode. We were only supposed to have a hundred people in the venue. It was five minutes and we were already overrun. It was difficult from that perspective.”

“This year...the StuCo group did an excellent job of getting organized enough to make it happen in a very small time frame, and doing it well,” McGahie added.

Upper and dodgeball referee Tucker Gibbs enjoyed exercising his role as a referee. “I think it was interesting...When you're competing for the school Dodgeball championship, everyone's gonna have a voice and they want to know why certain calls were made or why their friends got out. At times that can get heated, but it's all pretty straightforward. The ref’s call is final.”

Hours before the Dodgeball Tournament, students flocked to the OMA x Bob Ross Painting Club x La Allianza Latina sponsored event on the Academic quad. “I supported it logistically; I made sure they had what they needed. I also helped to promote it, but it was really something they did in the spirit of Hispanic Heritage Month,” McGahie recalled.

Lower William Weber reflected on his time painting. “I really enjoyed just having a canvas to paint on. Sometimes it's difficult at school when you have a lot of stuff, then you have commitments and homework to spend time doing things for joy, because you're always thinking, ‘oh, I, that time is where I should be doing the things that I have to do or I'm required to do, or I'm expected to do.’”

“I would love to see more cultural events...We have such a diverse population here at Exeter of students from all different parts of the world, and ‘youth from every quarter’ is one of our core values. I think we need to welcome and share [cultural experiences] so that we have a sense of purpose and pride,” Weber added.

Students also appreciated Fall Fest, which was organized by Student Activities. Upper Kenny Chen said, “I think it was great, especially the food. It’s a great opportunity to bring the community together. And I really enjoyed the games and the food personally, too.”

“Fall Fest was a fun break in a rather hectic first few weeks of school. The atmosphere was great, very calm thanks to the guitar and fall theme, yet very alive thanks to the whole school attending,” prep Aveen Burney added. 

Recreations Committee has even more ideas for the rest of the year, according to Murat. “Right now we have four main events. One of them is Pep Rally. Second is spirit week. Third is homecoming and fourth is Exeter Spirit Games,” Murat said. “I feel like the Spirit Games is an event that I've been wanting to organize since my lower rep campaign but we really haven't had the sort of infrastructure to put it in place.”

McGahie also had some ideas for the future. “I'm excited about some of the collaborations I'm thinking about. I'm looking at trying to do a kind of a combination of an ESSO exchange and theater costume sale. And maybe try to do a collaboration also with OMA as part of that [to have a conversation about] what is appropriate costuming so people are making good choices when they choose costumes.”

“I've heard from Exeter Association of Rock and I know they're planning on doing a concert. I'm excited to hit up the comedy club set up and I'm like, “you know, as soon as you guys start feeling like you've got enough material and you want to do a show.” So, I'm looking forward to also doing those kinds of collaborative things,” she added.

Several members of the community offered their thoughts on what they would like to see happen going forward. “In general, I would love to have another Spikeball tournament or a 3x3 basketball tournament or something like that. I want to see some more sports events where Exeter students get a chance to be competitive,” Chen said.

Upper Nate Bartkovich would love to see a return of Abbot’s dorm tea, Abbot Casino. “Abbot Casino is probably one of my fondest memories of my time here. And that's probably [one of] the top three events because the whole vibe was really cool,” Bartkovich said. “I've never been to a casino, but blackjack was really fun. The Roulette thing was really fun. It was just like a really fun time.”

Salu also had some suggestions for future events. “I would like to see more trivia and more like games related to that type of thing, just so I can win more. But a wider variety would be great.”

One thing is for certain. Exonians are loving student life activities. And we are waiting for more to come.