On March 31, the resident assistants of the Crimson Commons hosted The Big One, the last event of the year for the Crimson Commons’s resident assistants, which is designed to bring members of the Pittsburg State community together, both within the Commons and out. The Big One took place at the Crimson Commons courtyard. The event was devised by all the resident assistants at the Crimson Commons, and contained snacks, games, and a raffle. Mindy Evans, a junior business major and a resident assistant with the Commons, was present to help make sure the event ran smoothly.
“This is our last event of the year as Crimson Commons Staff, so we wanted to go out with a bang. We wanted to think of the most fun, crazy event that we could” Evans commented. “When we were talking about, people kept bringing up things like kickball and childhood memories of playing outside, and we have this great courtyard space, so we thought we’d kind of combine those two.”
The event kicked off at 5:00 that evening. As people entered, they were able to grab snacks and drinks like Doritos, potato chips, and Gatorade, while also being able to be entered for a raffle. As music blared down to energize people, the resident assistants were at work setting up the evening’s physical activities, which played concurrently with each other. The first activity was volleyball, which was played near the south side of the Crimson Commons area. The other event to be played that evening was slip and slide kickball, which took place in the courtyard area of the Commons. The game was played similarly to regular kickball, with a few extra twists- the bases the competitors had to land on were kiddie pools filled with water, while the paths the players had to run along were tarps covered in dish soap, making them extremely slick. The energy the games brought only added to the atmosphere of the event, and the attendees were enjoying themselves because of it.
“I am loving this; I love the morale so far,” Riley Heikes, a freshman political science and pre-law major, mentioned. Heikes, who attended the event because she had cousins who lived at the Crimson Commons, did not actively participate in the slip and slide kickball, instead taking the role of “the best cheerleader you’ve ever seen.”
The games were not the only thing the resident assistants were offering that evening, however. As students checked in to the app, they could be entered into a raffle, with periodic drawings throughout the evening. Among the prizes were a Keurig coffee machine, a waterproof Bluetooth speaker, a set of Apple Airpods, a digital camera, an Owala water bottle, a LEGO Botanicals set, and a Hisense Roku television, just to name a few. Simon Wicks, a sophomore biology and chemistry double major, helped purchase these items, as well as running the event.
“I’m happy about this. We had a slight setback with not being able to find a hose (for kickball,) but I think we had a really good turnout.”