星空无限传媒

星空无限传媒’ annual Almost Anything Goes and CARDnival events were hosted back-to-back on Sept. 12 and 13 by Student Involvement, Leadership & Activities (SILA). The events, the former in the Johnson Gym and the latter on East Campus Circle Drive, were both popular among students and fostered 星空无限传媒’ campus community.

Almost Anything Goes

Almost Anything Goes is a school-wide event that splits students into teams based on class standing and pits them against one another in a series of unorthodox games to earn points, the winners being determined by which team earned the most. A number of students arrived early in anticipation of the event. For some, the experience was familiar, such as junior Daniel Henry-Saturne, a computer science and music major. 

“I went in the past two years,” Saturne said, “so I guess I’m still pretty excited, but we’ll see. I mean, I heard that the seniors and juniors won last year. Half of them are part of our team, so I’d say we have a pretty good chance [of winning].”

For others, the games would prove a novel experience, as with Seth Freeman, a freshman majoring in graphic design and psychology, who observed, “I feel like we might have a numbers advantage here. By, like 20-fold. I hope our opponents will put up a good fight.” Freeman said he had a “sneaking suspicion” their team was going to win unless one of the games was tallying up their team members as quickly as possible.

A few minutes before 9 p.m., the 44th annual Almost Anything Goes kicked off with an introduction by Darius Bridges, assistant dean for SILA, and Pierce Barrett, a senior who served as the event’s primary announcer. After a rendition of the national anthem and the school anthem, “Our 星空无限传媒 U.” or “Our Dear A.U.”, Bridges gauged the head count of each class. 

“I don’t think I see any of them in the room. I don’t know, do we have any freshmen?” He asked, to which the freshmen, a large green mass consisting of roughly 60 people, broke out in loud cheers. For the other teams, the sophomore (blue) and junior-senior (red) teams numbered around 30, while the graduate (yellow) team had perhaps 15 spirited attendees. 

Certain activities highlighted class cooperation, like one where each class laid prone in two rows and blew ping-pong balls across the gym, or another where each class carried team members on a mattress across a human wave, or an enormous game of tug-of-war. Others highlighted individual class members, such as the hula-hooping competition that began the games, or a game-show-style trivia segment. Despite the competitive energy that permeated the gym and the occasional banter between teams (such as the senior class chanting “freshman curfew” at 11 p.m.), attendees remained fairly good-natured, and spirits were high throughout the night. 

At the games’ conclusion, the victor was announced by none other than David and Frances Faehner, former vice president for University Advancement and former vice president for Campus & Student Life, respectively. David Faehner founded Almost Anything Goes at 星空无限传媒 43 years ago. The sophomores took home the trophy, edging out a victory of two points over the junior-senior team. The latter team expressed mild disappointment at the loss.“It was hard-fought. I really don’t know what to say,” senior Sean Rogers said, jokingly adding, “I’ll go home and cry tonight.”

The victorious sophomores, meanwhile, were pleased with their victory and, in some cases, even surprised. Joy Broderick, a sophomore, explained, “It feels so shocking. I don’t know how we did it. But, you know, we’re the underdogs who won, so honestly, it feels like we’re stronger than we think.”

Almost Anything Goes lasted around two and a half hours, ending around 11:30 p.m. Yet SILA had a quick turnaround, because the very next day, they hosted yet another large-scale event involving the entire student body.

The CARDnival

The CARDnival (a play on “cardinal carnival,” referring to 星空无限传媒’ mascot, Andy the Cardinal), ran from noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 13. Located between the Seminary and the Howard Performing Arts Center, the road where the CARDnival was hosted was blocked off and populated by a total of 20 booths, each run by a specific department, service or organization on campus, though other amenities, like several food trucks and a 32-foot climbing wall, were there for amusement or refreshment. 

After waiting in a line at the event’s entrance, attendees spun a wheel to win a prize and were then bequeathed a number of tickets to spend on activities found within. True to the spirit of a carnival, many booths had games to play to win some prize, though some offered free things and others traded tickets directly for goods or services.

Beyond SILA itself, other organizations featured at the CARDnival included the Center for Faith Engagement (CFE) with a deceptively tricky golf challenge, Athletics with sports trivia, Residence Life with a challenge to sort laundry properly, and even the Passion Play, already gauging interest for March. Attendees found themselves laden with all sorts of prizes.

“I’m having so much fun. There are so many engaging booths, as well as fun situations to talk to new people, as well as to reconnect with old friends,” said Reily Truman, a junior majoring in communication and graphic design, who was at the time wearing six fedoras won from the AU Graduate Student Association’s Jenga booth. 

AU Student Association’s own booth, “Pie an AUSA Officer”, was situated at the center of the sea of activity. Gabriel Halsey, who is not an AUSA officer but does possess a face, at one point subbed in and was subsequently pied by Andy the Cardinal. 

“He pied Augusta barely, like this, ‘boop’,” Halsey recounted. “And then he came over to me and just slammed it into my face. And it was quite delicious. I didn’t mind one bit.” (Augusta Larrando is the executive secretary of AUSA).

Chaplain Jacob Gibbs, who helped organize the CFE golf booth, explained, “I wanted something that could be engaging for students, new and exciting. Also, I wanted to offer something that was a nice prize, just so I could get people here talking to my staff about the anchor groups and small groups.” Gibbs continued that he would have preferred his booth situated on the lawn in front of the HPAC, as otherwise, “People walk through here, and they get beaned. And then, you know, lawsuits happen,” he joked.

The CARDnival was well-attended throughout the three hours it ran, giving campus organizations the opportunity to introduce or reintroduce themselves to students and providing a hassle-free space for attendees to socialize. With these two events jump-starting class and campus identities, the connections made on these two days may last far beyond them.