Graceland Highlights of the 2014 Fall Semester

Winning Football Team

In the fall of 2013, Graceland’s football team had a not so great season if you measure success in terms of wins and losses. Putting it nicely, it was a long season for any die-hard fans. But in last year’s 2014 season we saw quite the turn around for the team. A 600 percent increase in overall wins, a .545 winning percentage, and a number of fresh new faces on the field were the hallmarks of a successful season. We all hope for the continued success of the team and for great competitive games in the future.

(Pictured below is the football team’s final game of the season in which they came back to win 30-20 against away team Evangel University)

New Year’s in November

While the DJ had some questionable calls in music choice, New Year’s in November was an event to remember (totally an unintentional rhyme when I wrote that). From the speakeasy rooms to the roaming magicians, this New Year’s event was a must-go-to event. Dancing, mocktails, girls, guys, gambling, friends and a New Year’s countdown in the middle of November all helped make this a “you should’ve been there” event for the 2014 fall semester. Great job COSA on making that night special for everyone and we look forward to seeing what you do next year.

Muddy Games

What’s better than playing in the mud by yourself? How about playing in the mud with a bunch of people you’ve just met? The muddy games continue to be a great mixer for freshmen to meet other freshmen and upper-class students during welcome week. Brother-Sister “Houses” united to play a number of different games in the mud and compete for the glory of victory. If you went, hopefully you saw some new faces, got a little dirty and avoided getting too much mud in places you weren’t trying to get mud.

Airband

Homecoming can be a very stressful time for many students who try to juggle their classwork, their sports, their jobs, their club participation, their social life, their exercise regimen, eating, sleeping and basic hygiene… Where was I going with this? Oh yeah, throwing homecoming activities into students’ daily juggling acts can really add a huge stressor to their lives (esp. airband since it’s so time consuming). Although airband takes up time in your day for weeks, you’re usually not spending that time alone. This one event brings Brother-Sister “Houses” together and will help you develop relationships that most likely wouldn’t have happened without it. Yes, airband can be extremely stressful but by the end, some of the greatest relationships you’ll have with Brother-Sister “House”-mates will have been forged. Last semester Tiona-Paloma took home the championship title.

Dodgeball

The gigantic dodgeball match during Homecoming week is a personal favorite. You get to hang out with your brother-sister “House” teammates, while at the same time competing with other “Houses” for the title of champion. There was a great battle last semester but in the end Faunce-Dimora came out on top.

Die-In

A coalition of students from a racially diverse club called the Black Student Union set up a “die-in” on Dec. 10, 2014. Getting to sit down and talk to one of the students that was key in making the event happen, Kareemah Burns, it was clear that there was one message she wanted everyone to take away from the die-in: “All lives matter.”  It was a symbolic event that was an expression of how the attending students, faculty and community wanted to unite peacefully, reach out over racial borders and protest excessive use of force in disputes. The event was not about creating a chasm between police and citizen relations, it was not about trying to point blame and it was not about trying to isolate or marginalize any group of people. This event was held to show support for police doing their job looking out for citizens and empathetically caring about the individuals they deal with. It was to bring together people from different cultures to support one another. It was a brave attempt to get people to step out of there comfort zone and focus for a couple minutes on a pressing issue facing their greater community.

Pie In Jason Smith’s Face

Do you remember where you were when you heard Jason Smith was going to get pied in the face? I was eating at the Commons when my friend started talking about how Jason Smith was going to be pied later in the week. I took his Statistics class my freshman year so, naturally, I wanted nothing more in my life than to see a whip cream covered pastry to be smashed into his face. On Dec. 8, 2014 at 10:15 p.m., Jason Smith got his comeuppance. Thank you Graceland, thank you Enactus and thank you Universe for allowing myself and the entire Graceland campus to witness that perfectly historic night. If you did not get to see this happen at least you can imagine what it felt like with this picture.

Authored by Brandon McCaffrey, Sophomore Cheville