Students play St. Patrick’s Day bingo
Student Activities hosted Luck of the Bingo for students Feb. 24 to begin celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. Late Saturday evening, students arrived at the LaHaye Event Space to test their luck at bingo.
Unlike a regular bingo game, students were challenged to create special-themed shapes on their boards that corresponded with the holiday. For the first few rounds, shapes included a shamrock, a gold coin, leprechaun hats and other St. Patrick’s Day symbols. Likewise, event hosts encouraged students to embrace an Irish accent for the evening.
Student Activities Event Supervisor Chloe Rinaldi oversaw the planning and execution of this event. Prior to the event, she worked with a team to prepare.
“The most prominent intentional choices were the decorations chosen for the event as well as the bingo slides themselves,” Rinaldi said. “We have a baseline for every bingo we host, and from there, we tweak the event plan based on what theme we end up deciding on.”
Photo by Anna Wheat
The event coordinators transformed the LaHaye Event Space with an Irish-themed color palate of green and gold. Decorations included streamers, colored lighting and gold coins. Additionally, students could pose in front of an Irish-themed photo booth with various props.
As the university approaches its mid-term, Student Activities strives to find a way for students to relax with friends.
“(Student Activities wants) students to have fun and feel like they can put aside the stress of academics for a little while, even if it’s only to play a couple games of bingo,” Rinaldi said.
Junior Madison Gates won the first round after creating a shamrock shape on her bingo sheet. Not only was she happy to win this game, but she has enjoyed attending bingo events since becoming a student.
“I feel more community here,” Gates said. “It’s nice to get to talk to your friends and have something to do.”
Gates — along with other winners — was able to take home a Target gift card. For the grand prize, one student won a green bucket hat decorated with a shamrock.
Throughout the semester, Student Activities hosts many themed bingo and trivia nights. Although St. Patrick’s Day is next month, the staff chose to place this event before spring break and spring Coffeehouse.
Photo by Anna Wheat
“There were a couple of different themes we were choosing between, and Luck of the Bingo seemed to be the best choice because we like to include different cultures and locations for our themes,” Rinaldi said.
Students gathered and conversed with one another while participating in competitive rounds of bingo. While playing in each bingo round, students and event staff shared many laughs together.
“By hosting these events, we are giving the students a place to hang out and make memories with each other,” Rinaldi said.
Student Activities will be continuing this through events this spring.
“Luck of the Bingo is the last themed bingo for this semester,” Rinaldi said. “But we are hosting the biggest themed event of the semester on March 23. You might know it. It’s called Coffeehouse: Animated.”
Garman is a news reporter for the Liberty Champion