Brought to you since 92

By Janee Mitchell - Feature Writer

What is the best way to end spring and welcome summer, well if you are a member of the UIS community Spring Fest may be your answer. Exciting, interesting, awesome, and cardboard? Yes cardboard, one student said she would remember Spring Fest for the cardboard used in one of the events. While some students focused on the décor of the events others focused on the fun and excitement achieved in viewing the team competitions.

Samantha Buhlig, sophomore majoring in clinical laboratory sciences and co-chair of Spring Fest, said she has been working with Spring Fest for two years. This year she has seen the event become more organized and witnessed the addition of the vegetarian cook off and ultimate Frisbee.

Spring Fest in most notably a team sports events. Teams are encouraged to register prior to the start of Spring Fest with a limited number of participants. Each day of Spring Fest contained team competitions in which team members competed against each other to obtain points.

The kickoff for Spring Fest began with a basketball game followed by an outdoor barbeque. The actual events began on Monday with the whose line duo and continued with name that tune on Tuesday. Students used their improvisation skills to compete against the other teams for points. An after school special, flagathon and a flag and chant competition marked Wednesday's events.

During the flag and chant competition students proudly held up their flags and chanted inventive lyrics at the crowd of onlookers and opponents in an attempt to prove their team the best. Grazia Silvestro, senior psychology major and member of the Old Skool Cappie Crew said her group chose to do a variation of the popular song Midwest Swang, changing it to “it's a Cappie Thang.”

Spring Fest teams were called to the student life center where Buhlig said they were to receive their scavenger hunt instructions, sending them to retrieve ketchup and other items. Rebecca Caron, Junior Criminal Justice and alt. member of the UIS drinking team said the teams were deduced to knocking on doors to get the various items listed on the scavenger hunt list. The students were to reconvene in the LRH at the close of the hunt where the teams were evaluated for points.

Sring Fest continued on measuring the brainpower and strength of the teams, as they competed in Trivia game shows and various team sports competitions. There was also a Spring Fest dance open to everyone. Heidi Fisher, freshman in Psychology and first time Spring Fest attendee, said the Spring Fest dance “is better than some of the others, better music, better people.” Fisher said she did not get involved in the team events because all her friends are judges. The dance had a beach theme and teams were encouraged to come and receive points for their attendance, according to the campus wide email sent out about the event. They were also promised to receive extra points if they bought new white t-shirts. Fisher also said that the dance would be better next year if it were held outside.

In perhaps the hardest day of Spring Fest, Saturday, students competed in what appeared to be a mini tournament playing kickball, sand volleyball, flag football, ultimate Frisbee and mud tug of war non-stop in the sweltering hot heat. Caron, muddy and severely sun burnt returned home after the mud tug of war with some suggestions for next year. First, she would schedule the first events further apart so things would not be rushed. Lastly, “the Trojans got screwed over because they could only have 10 people and judges did not verify and the other captain used trickery to get the team disqualified.”

Caron said it was the judges' responsibility to make sure that the numbers were correct before the event started. She said the Trojans were disqualified from tug of war for this and that the other team, who she does not wish to name, may have gotten a higher placing because of it. Caron said this incident was the worst thing to happen during Spring Fest and wants to see it change for next year. Caron said she enjoyed the scavenger hunt and Spring Fest because “every body on campus comes together and has a great time.

Spring Fest may have had its ups and downs but the impact on the student body was tremendous. There were high attendance rates at the events. The events also contained comical relief, though most of the events were highly competitive. Some teams mockingly and comically played their competitors, while others joining the competition were seen as comical because of their team names. The students were allowed to chose their own team names, some teams came up with interesting and inventive team names and then there's the UIS drinking team.

Emily Janco is a HMS Counseling grad student here at the university and third year attendee of Spring Fest. Janco said her team should win the competition because “we've been drinking here for years.” Some people would arguably say that drinking does not guarantee a win and that it actually impairs your abilities. No one can definitively give the answer in that regards but we can rely on the scoreboard. According to the scoreboard the UIS drinking team placed last in every almost every event, but no one will ever know the answer to this phenomena.

Every competition has to have the best and worse teams and we've already seen that according to the numbers the UIS drinking team was the worst. PXII Old School Ramrods was the best Spring Fest team, nearly sweeping the board in every event. They competitively defeated their opponents in a foreseen victory achieving first place honors. Old Skool Cappie Crew came in second place with Best Buds following in third. The teams were given cash prizes ranging from three hundred dollars to one hundred fifty dollars to go out and celebrate with their teams.

Paul Njomo races to second base when his team, Old Skool Cappie Crew, played the PXII Old School Ramrods in kickball on Saturday

Eurocrat from member Pat Redwood refuses to give up though he is knee-deep in mud during the tug-of-war. The Eurocrats were defeated in the first round of the competition

PXII Old School Ramrods pose for a picture after they were announced as the winners of this years Springfest

PXII Old School Ramrod team member Tyson Roan pitches the ball during a kickball game

Robots United collect all their items to be judged for the Scavenger Hunt Thursday night.

Members of the Liger team sprawl out on the floor of the student center to work together to design the flag for the flag competition

Springfest participants dance to the music, decked out in their beach attire, at the Springfest dance on Friday evening. Each Springfest participant earned points for their team if they attended the dance

Brought to you since 92