Students started lining up early for Wittenberg Union Board’s Build-A-Tiger event on Feb. 7. By eight o’clock, the line was stretched around the bottom floor of the Student Center, up the stairs and towards the exit doors with students playing card games and sitting in lawn chairs to rest their legs as the minutes ticked on. As students waited patiently, they were entertained by popular music as well as Union Board members walking around and asking trivia questions with rewards in the form of candy for correct answers.
The in-line trivia entertainment was just one of the innovative ideas brainstormed by Union Board to improve on the last few runs of the event. They also wanted to establish a well-founded plan to market the event, which resulted in Union Board members passing out advertisements stapled to packages of animal crackers during dining hours in the CDR the day before. Co-chair of Union Board Madeline Boyd, ‘20, stated that these, along with other improvements, worked out well this year and achieved what Union Board was looking for.
The other large component of the preparations were deciding which animals to order. Boyd said that she and her co-chair chose six different animals, including the tiger, sting-ray, kangaroo and panda. They ordered seven dozen of each animal, and though there was no formal participant count, Boyd shared excitement over the remaining animals.
“According to the amount of animals we had leftover, the turnout was fantastic,” Boyd said.
Laryssa Vanhoose, ‘19, was one of the many students who took an early seat on Wednesday night. She stated that she waited for roughly an hour, which she used to bond and catch up with her peers in the line around her. She explained that they were each given a ticket to guarantee their rights to fluff and stuff the animal of their choice, and once it was finally her turn, Vanhoose chose a kangaroo, which she named Jerry. Overall, she said she enjoyed the event and looks forward to it next year.
Boyd felt the event was a tremendous success, as she explained that it was a way for Union Board to provide a chance for the campus community to come together and to “take a break out of their busy schedules and have fun.” She went on to express the importance of balance between work and play in the busy academic schedule of a college student, and that Union Board works to provide opportunities for students to come together and loosen up a little.
