By Irene Enyedy
The Students’ Union decided to take a slightly different approach to social activities this year. Bling Bling, a game created by Shinerama directors at Wilfred Laurier University last year was adopted and moulded to the U of C 101 program in order to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis. The game challenged frosh students and U of C 101 leaders to a strategic and devious game. The nearly 4,000 first year students were divided into eight different groups with almost 500 students per team. The goal was to get the highest amount of points, or in this case the least negative points. Pennies are the only way to gain points. Each group wanted to add pennies to their own buckets, while adding any other denominations (nickels, quarters, loonies, twonies, and dollar bills) into other groups’ buckets. Alliances were encouraged and strategy was a significant factor in the success of the teams.
By the end of the first day the game was just beginning to develop. When Wednesday’s total of $536 and the rankings were posted, the alliances started to build. Rumours began to spread…Orange group had a 400-person meeting, the Green team gained alliances with all other colour groups, there were hundreds of dollars in bills in the Yellow team’s bucket, Silver stole money from a wishing well. By the end of Thursday the amount raised quadrupled, with just over $2,600 raised and the Students’ Union prepared itself for another day of crazy coin counting.
The final day proved to be the most exciting. Volunteers could barely keep up with the rolling and counting of the coins. The finale was held at the Homecoming Hullabaloo bbq where the students put their heart and soul into the last six glorious minutes of the game. It was an amazing end to a successful event. One group added nearly $200 in pennies to their bucket, while another team possessed a $100 bill to upset an unsuspecting rival.
In total $6,853.13 was raised for Cystic Fibrosis. It provided a great opportunity for students to get more involved with their university and community. All final results are listed on the Students’ Union website at www.su.ucalgary.ca. Winners will be able to collect their prizes at the Students’ Union Office (MSC 251) by Thursday September 19 or until supplies last.
Many thanks go to all U of C 101 students who participated to make this a fun and worth while experience; to the U of C 101 leaders for their significant impact on the success of the event; and to the many volunteers who helped with the counting of this huge amount of money in coins. A huge thank you also goes to Jeannette Mandrusiak and Lucy Houchen for their months of dedication and assistance with this event.
I encourage all students at the University to get involved with Shinerama this year. Our shine day is September 27 when we will be hosting lots of events on and off campus to raise our goal of $10,004.10. We are already over half way there. Come sign up at the Students’ Union office or email me at suvpeve@ucalgary.ca. All volunteers get free stuff!
The SU View and its corresponding headline are products of the Students’ Union and are published without Gauntlet editorial revision.