After years of inconsistent involvement, the University of Idaho Residence Hall Association will be an active participant in this weekend’s Homecoming festivities.
Today at exactly 7:14 p.m., UIRHA will host the Spirit Bash in the LLC classrooms, room 133. The event is open to students living in all of the campus dorms.
The event — organized by Kendra Buell, RHA programming coordinator, and Amanda Mollet, RHA adviser — will be a cornerstone for residence hall students wishing to get involved with Homecoming.
The event is a station for students to get “Vandalized.” At the Spirit Bash, students will also be able to join the Serpentine led by the marching band as it weaves past the residence halls. At the bonfire, where the Serpentine ends, a crowd of Vandals will choose the Most Vandalized Fan.
“[We’re] trying to get residence halls more involved in Homecoming and make sure that everyone is spirited and excited to go for the Serpentine and that we have lots of vandalized fans,” Mollet said.
In room 133, students can stock up on noisemakers, face paint and megaphones. There will also be a station to make Vandal headbands. Vandal Viking helmets are also available. Pizza and drinks will be provided by RHA.
According to Mollet, approximately $800 was spent to fund the event, with $300 toward pizza.
“It’s not concrete yet, but maybe we’ll (have competitions for) the best dance, the person who could sing the fight song, the best face paint idea, the best headband idea …” Buell said.
Ann Wardlaw, Targhee Hall president said the Spirit Bash is a cool event for all living groups to be involved in.
“Because generally in the past, I feel like Homecoming has just been fraternities and sororities,” Wardlaw said.
“I think that any big event that carries weight like (Spirit Bash) is absolutely beneficial to anybody on campus, whether they go to it or not,” said Nathan McLeod, RHA president. “People can see that our campus is proactive.”
RHA is more excited about Homecoming this year because they are more involved, McLeod said.
“So far it’s been a lot less hectic than it was last year. Last year, the residence halls didn’t have as big of a presence,” McLeod said. “This year, I feel like we’re being really active and it’s a lot less stressed.”
Wardlaw said she feels this is one of the first years RHA is actively getting involved with Homecoming.
“I’m hoping to get a big group of people to come down to (Spirit Bash), so I’m probably going to be putting up some fliers for it,” Wardlaw said.
Jake Smith can be reached at [email protected]