Instead of drinking on Friday night, many students participated in a dance competition and enjoyed a Big Playground at the Rec Center, hosted by the Wellness Connection.
Graduate assistant Sarah Dewitt coordinated the event, which included a dance competition, bouncy castle, caricatures, raffle for prizes, large tricycles and free pizza.
“Big Playground is an alcohol alternative event that involves campus and community constituents to educate as well as provide activities for students on a Friday night,” Dewitt said.
The main entertainment was the dance competition, which had around 15 to 20 participants. Freshman Kaylyn Collier said she came for the bouncy castle and saw the event on campus updates.
“I also came to watch the dance competition,” Collier said.
An expert panel judged the competition, and the dances were limited to two minutes and 30 seconds. An Amazon gift card was the prize per group or individual ranging from $50 for third place, $100 for second place and $200 for first place. Gabriel Morgan, a senior, heard about the event from someone he dances with in a break dancing group.
“We didn’t know there were prizes,” Morgan said. “We just love practicing on this type of floor. This is our only chance to dance on a reasonable floor.”
The event is funded by grants and other student organizations like the Student Wellness Network. Coca-Cola also funds to support the event.
“A student intern through the Wellness Connection that did a lot of the idea generating with me to utilize what things worked really well in the past and some new ideas of what we would like to see,” Dewitt said. “That’s why we included the dance competition and we’re really excited about that this year.”
Sophomore Daniel Johnson competed in the competition as well. While he said he is too tall to break, a technique used in break dancing, he once danced with Group 1 Crew, a Christian hip-hop band.
“I got an email about the event and the words ‘dance competition’ caught my eye,” Johnson said. “I did not expect this many people to be here.”
