The First Year Olympics (FYO) have been a tradition at Gustavus for 11 years. The idea originally involved only the south side of campus, but in 2004, it was opened to the entire first-year community.
FYO has been a longstanding tradition on campus, but they were discontinued a few years ago. However, Collegiate Fellow Jack Healy brought them back in January of 2013.
“Last year, Jack Healy with the help of other Collegiate Fellows organized the first FYO in approximately five or six years,” Junior Collegiate Fellow Danielle Cabrera said.
This year, the first-year Collegiate Fellows wanted the tradition to stay alive and planned the event once more for the 2014 January Interim.
“I know that many of the CFs who were involved this year plan to reapply to be a CF again next year, and if selected we would definitely want to keep the tradition going; but I can’t say for certain that they will, in fact, again become an annual competition,” Sophomore Collegiate Fellow Morgan Timm said.
The FYO consists of events where each hall can participate in different activites for points. Most of the events are specifically for first-years, while some of the events, such as the talent show, allowed non-first-years to attend.
“The First-Year Olympic Games have been a spirited part of the first-year experience for students at Gustavus. Many first-year students reside on campus during J-term and these events provide them with choices of positive activities in order to develop self-responsibility. The events also generate a heightened sense of community and belonging by participating in shared experiences for a common goal. And, of course, the events also provide first-year students with an opportunity to have fun,” Area Coordinator Caitlin Herby said.
This year’s events included bingo, a talent showcase, dodge ball, mock-tail party, and “Energy Wars.”
“‘Energy Wars’ was the event that I personally organized. It was a combination of an energy conservation competition, to see which residence hall could reduce its energy consumption the most, and a workshop co-sponsored by Building Bridges and the Environmental Justice First Term Seminar. I am a co-chair of the Building Bridges Action Piece committee as well as a CF, so I jumped on the opportunity to introduce my residents to the conference topic,” Timm said.
Bingo, a Gustie favorite, ended up being one of the most highly attended events held in the Heritage room on Jan. 8. About 80 first-years attended and competed for $300 worth of prizes. The grand prize was an iPod shuffle, won by Christine Peterson from Pittman Hall.
The First-Year Olympics talent showcase was also a hit. There were over ten performances, including musicians and dancers. The event had high attendance and included students from other classes, who attended to support the performers.
The mocktail party was also a success with over 150 attendees. It was held in the Dive on Saturday, Jan. 25. For the first hour, Jessie Erickson played guitar and sang. Marshall Bell, a Collegiate Fellow from Norelius Hall, DJed for the rest of the night.
“I heard feedback from my residents afterwards that they were very happy that there was something for everyone; if you didn’t like to dance, then you could leave at nine, and if you only wanted to dance then you could wait to show up until nine.”
“It was a great success,” Timm said.
The residence hall that had the most participation during the events was Pittman, which gave them the title of the 2014 First-Year Olympics champions.