By Jen Forse | Staff Writer
Students engaged in traditions unique to their residence halls this weekend, including meals, pickleball games, Hall Battles and a Girls’ Night In.
Residence Hall Traditions Night is an annual Welcome Week event and, for most freshmen, their first experience with their communities’ unique traditions.
Pyeongtaek, South Korea, sophomore Gidget Rodriguez-Smith continues to enjoy seeing freshmen attend Welcome Week traditions, First-Year Dinner and participate in Game on the Quad at Brooks Residential College.
“At First-Year Dinner, all the new freshmen and transfers gather in the Great Hall,” she said. “It’s fully catered and is a great way for new residents to meet people. Game on the Quad happens after dinner. It’s also a great way to get to know people, hang out and enjoy good games.”
San Antonio junior Joshua Veda also shares a love for Welcome Week traditions at Brooks Residential College, such as the involvement fair and karaoke night.
“The involvement fair is a fun way to see what the council members we elected last semester have in store for the rest of the year, and it’s a great way to meet new students,” he said.
First-Year Communities also celebrate Welcome Week traditions.
‘Aiea, Hawaii junior Ellie Pelesky, a community leader at Collins Hall, explained her residence hall traditions as directors and other community leaders set up the lobby at Collins for Girls’ Night In.
“Tonight’s theme is glow,” she said. “We have glitter tattoos, glow sticks, dirty soda, popcorn and I think we have tacos as well. For activities, we’re doing Just Dance, karaoke, brick painting and making felt pendants.”
Each year, community leaders at Collins Hall work hard to choose a fresh theme that connects with incoming freshmen, with last year’s theme being Y2K. While activities generally remain consistent, snacks and outfits change yearly.
“We encourage everyone to dress up according to the theme and really lean into it,” Pelesky said.
Collins Hall also held a raffle for residents, with prizes like a hoodie, Baggu bag, picture frames, lotion and a water bottle. The raffle encouraged student engagement through offering raffle tickets if students brought a friend or tagged Collins on Instagram.
Waco senior and Teal Residential College Council President John Olafsen helped set up a movie night featuring popcorn and an inflatable screen.
“We have a Welcome Week tradition where we watch a movie,” he said. “On move-in day, we have the new residents vote from a few animated films, and this year Lego Batman won.”
Brooks, Collins and Teal are not the only residence halls filled with traditions. Bobbie Oramalu, a second-year graduate student at Truett Seminary and chaplain at Alexander and Memorial Residence Halls said Welcome Week introduced multiple HRC traditions.
“For Welcome Week, we have Open Door Night, which gives students the opportunity to open their doors, host activities and show off how they’ve decorated their room,” Oramalu said. “We also have Hall Battles where students partake in friendly competition before the school year.”
Penland Hall reserved its adjacent pickleball courts for its Residence Hall Tradition Night. Meanwhile, former and current residents of Allen and Dawson Halls enjoyed their traditions of dirty soda and board games.
For many students, Resident Hall Tradition Night is only the beginning. Many students will continue to enjoy their residence halls’ unique traditions throughout the year.
One of Oramalu’s favorite HRC traditions is Lessons and Carols, a yearly Christmas-time event hosted in Truett Seminary.
“We have tons of traditions at the Honors College,” she said. “One tradition we have is called Toasties, where we have grilled-cheese sandwiches with a spin.”
Rodriguez-Smith also expressed her excitement for the Tri-College Tournament, an annual competition between the Honors Residential College, Brooks Residential College and Teal Hall, as well as some of her favorite traditions at Brooks.
“My favorite weekly tradition is Sunday night dinner because it provides an opportunity for our community to come together,” she said.
Veda thanked the Community and Traditions Committee and Assistant Director Joseph Abendanio for planning fun events for students in Brooks Residential College.
“There’s Fall Festival and our Yule and May Balls,” Veda said. “I also like some of the smaller events, like Poems, Psalms and Pastries. [Students] buy a bunch of pastries and have an open poetry night, which I really enjoy as a poet.”
