February 6–12, 2008, Number 480
Winter Carnival Week
It's finally here! The week most (if not all) of the student body has been waiting for: Winter Carnival week has arrived. With it comes loads of excitement as finishing touches and intricate details begin to take form on the statues that everybody has been vigorously working on. This article will share details of what has been going on during the last couple of days/weeks that has lead to this moment. I'll try to share special details without giving too much away so that those parents coming up later this week can enjoy what they see and experience.
Before I go into too much detail about carnival events though, I must take a moment to relate the excitement of what last Wednesday brought for the students of Michigan Tech. When I first took a tour here during my senior year of high school, I was told not to expect a snow day because they just don't happen here at Michigan Tech. So you can imagine my surprise when my housemate woke me up last Wednesday morning at 6:00 a.m. to tell me to turn off my alarm and sleep in, because there would be no school that day! So, I've been fortunate enough to enjoy two snow days in two of my years at Michigan Tech and can say that it was a great feeling! To talk about the more interesting part of this day for the history books is to mention that early in the day on Tuesday it was raining! This later turned to heavy snowfall as the day wore on and continued on throughout the night into Wednesday. The heavy amounts of snow assured all students that Winter Carnival statues may be a little damaged by the rain and slight heat wave that we received early last week, but there is still enough time to fix them up and plenty of snow to make them incredible.
Now onto more recent thrilling news: Winter Carnival events. To me the pinnacle of carnival is the All-nighter that takes place on Wednesday evening at 4:00 p.m. and lasts until 8:00 a.m. on Thursday. During this time, spirits are high, music is blasting, and everyone is enjoying themselves as they walk the sidewalks of campus cheering on the snow statue builders. There is even a booth statue built for WLUC TV-6 (local news station out of Marquette County) to use when they show up to campus to report about what's taking place at Michigan Tech. This time on campus is for everyone that wants to come out and enjoy it. There are places to get food and warm beverages and everywhere people and snow! Overall it is a blast as students just try to have fun during this memorable time of our college experience.
This year's theme is "Frightful Creatures with Chilling Features," so you can imagine that most of this year's statues have some form of terrible monsters that we've encountered over the years from either movies, books of any kind, or many other avenues that create terror in our minds. The students have been working really hard and the detail on some of the statues is incredible! I think that this year's statues will be unbelievable and I can't wait to see the final product. Although most students will probably be sleeping in on Thursday morning following the All-nighter, it is the prime time to get out and see the hard work finally completed. Also, it gives people the opportunity to see what place all the statues took in the judging competition. That's right, the statues are judged. This gives specific groups in different categories points, because Winter Carnival is a competition. The different organizations are categorized and they receive points for statue as well as all the other activities that they take part in.
One thing I'd like to mention is to those parents that are coming up to visit the area and see the statues, don't forget to make a trip over to Hancock. There is one off-campus fraternity over there that usually has a very cool statue as well. This is Phi Kappa Tau and they are the only Fraternity associated with Michigan Tech located across the bridge from the University. All the other fraternities and sororities that don't have statues on the main campus can be seen when you drive by their houses located on College Avenue as you head downtown.
This past weekend held many events for the student body to participate in. Especially on Saturday, as the fishing derby, located on Chassel Bay, and the Queen's coronation, held in the Rozsa Center, occurred. There have been many other events that have kept the students busy, all to gain points in the effort of taking first in the competition of Winter Carnival. If you come up to visit, the public is more than welcome to check out these events. Again, as I mentioned in a previous article, events can be found on the Winter Carnival schedule. Please take the opportunity to see Michigan Tech students out enjoying their time as we celebrate and have fun.
If you aren't coming up until the weekend, there are still great events to be seen. The IRHC (Inter-Residence Hall Council) league for broomball still has games going on outside as well as other great Winter Carnival events: snow volleyball, snowshoeing, tug-o-war, downhill skiing, and snowboarding can all be seen on Friday, and on Saturday there will be and awards ceremony announcing the victors of Winter Carnival. Also on Saturday is the Torch Light parade, fireworks, and the snowball. You can't beat this kind of entertainment. The last event that is not directly related to Winter Carnival, but is taking place on Friday and Saturday of this upcoming weekend are two hockey games played by our Division I men's team and the University of Wisconsin. Many people are looking forward to this game, but if you want tickets get them quick.
I could go on for a long time about all the things that have been taking place and will occur this week, but I don't want to give it all away. I will be writing a follow up article that talks more about what did take place during Winter Carnival. As always, if there are any questions or comments about this article, previous articles, or just ideas you'd like to send to me for future articles you can email me at my personal email address. I hope many of you get the opportunity to enjoy Winter Carnival with your students!
Until next week,
- Michigan Technological University
- 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295
- 906-487-1885