By CONNOR GRAY, Student Reporter
The Northwestern Student Government Association and the university’s football team got together March 31 to create an event for students to play games and meet new people.
The event Wednesday at Ranger Field, dubbed the “Ranger Games,” involved a plethora of different types of games that students could participate in. Classic games like cornhole, kickball, ultimate frisbee, spike ball and tier golf were among those offered. Individuals got together to create teams to compete for t-shirts and cash prizes. Music was played through the public address system at the field, and pizza was also provided for anyone who got hungry.
The idea for this event came from Coach Matt Walter and his coaching staff during a recruiting meeting, he said.
“We were thinking as a staff of how we can bring our students together and have something to do with campus life,” Walter said.
Coach Anthony Weeden then reached out to Ethan Sacket, the SGA president, to see if SGA would be a partner in the event.
“We are always looking for team ups with other groups on campus and just a unique opportunity of different games and that students of all types can participate,” Sacket said.
He said he hopes this will become an annual event.
Sam Gentry and Brian Holiday, who play offensive and defensive line, respectively, talked about the event in high spirits.
“I think it’s a good time,” Holiday said. “We’ve been in quarantine and stuff, so being able to see everybody’s faces and getting to know new students that’s pretty cool.”
Many students were there as soon as the event started, with some socializing and others playing games before tournaments got started.
Kailani Kealoha was one of the students playing cornhole with her friends.
“I’m excited about tonight’s event, as it will be a great experience to meet new people,” she said. “Especially with COVID, it’s been hard to meet new people with the mask and all this stuff.”
Caitlyn Bidhart said she thought the event was important as it showed a form of normalcy that has been difficult to find this school year.
To those who didn’t attend, Bidhart said this: “They are missing out on this as this give us a chance to be a community again.”
