This past weekend, the quad behind the Commons was turned into a venue for winter fun. Despite the warm weather, students took part in ice sculpting, broomball, and a bonfire as part of the Student Senate’s latest event.
Over the course of the day, around 100 students attended the festivities according to Chair of the Committee for Student Life Teddy Tablante ’10. “It was a good turnout,” he said, adding “I was very happy with it.” Winterfest ran from noon until 5 pm, and was followed by a tailgate for the hockey game versus Clarkson hosted by the Red Army.
The central part of the event was an ice rink to be used for skating and broomball. The event featured ice sculpting, where one group attempted to sculpt a three-foot block of ice into a penguin, as well as a bonfire. Sigma Alpha Epsilon set up human bowling at Winterfest, and WRPI added music. Hot chocolate was provided courtesy of Phi Kappa Theta, and donuts were also available.
“We will probably do something similar next year and improve on everything done this year,” Tablante said. “It was a great experience for learning what works and what doesn’t.”
“Winterfest was indeed a success by RPI standards,” added Erin Carroll ’10, who worked on the event as well. “We had a decent turnout not only from the students in the surrounding dormitories but also several houses from RPI greek life.”
In addition to Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Phi Kappa Theta, a small portion of Alpha Gamma Delta and Pi Kappa Alpha attended the event, according to Tablante. Carroll also looks to get more involvement from other organizations next year as well.
“It was great to combine fraternities and campus community for the event,” said Tablante. “It was a great connection between the two groups.”
In addition to Tablante and Carroll, Winterfest was coordinated with help from Chase Miller ’10, Rob Hesse ’10, and Adam Hardy ’10.
When asked if there were plans to improve the ice rink next year to account for warmer weather, Tablante said, “We learned a lot from it—it’s not hard to manage, as long as you prepare for the warm weather. After this ice rink, we feel far more capable with building a rink next year.”
