The University Activities Board (UAB) is hosting Spirit Week featuring in-person and virtual events for students between Feb. 8 and Feb 12.
This set of events is being held as a way to get Raiders excited for the rest of the semester.
“Spring semester can be rough, so bringing in something to strengthen their Raider pride is what we tried to do,” said UAB Vice President Cody Pack. “We do that through giving away a bunch of stuff and making students feel welcome on campus.”
The schedule of events
The first event of the week will be a giveaway of iHeartWSU t-shirts on Monday at 11 a.m. This will be held in person and is Pack’s favorite event of the week.
“You see them wearing [the shirts] on campus all the time and it’s like ‘okay, cool.’,” said Pack. “‘We got them to wear that, and we gave it to them. It’s just cool to see.”
Though the event is not a part of Spirit Week, the UAB will also be hosting a Mystery Monday at 7 p.m. through WebEx where students can, according to the UAB Facebook page, “bring out [their] inner detective and sort through different unsolved case files.”
Tuesday, there will be a virtual game of Kahoot at 6 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday both have in-person events at 11 a.m. where students will be able to build their own Rowdy Raiders and terrariums. The terrarium building is an activity that the director of April Craze Alexis Linden is looking forward to.
“We’ll be providing all of the little containers and plants and rocks and stuff that can go into it,” said Linden. “I’ve never made one, so I thought that was neat.”
Finally, Friday is iHeartWSU Day, an online, all-day event where students can submit photos of themselves.
Running safe in-person events
The UAB is taking several precautions for Spirit Week events including wearing gloves, sanitizing and having a sign-in sheet for those who will be participating on campus.
One of the challenges that the UAB has had to face with putting together these events during the coronavirus pandemic has been determining how students can come to them, since, according to Pack, virtual events have not been as successful as in-person ones. To remedy this, they have been utilizing social media more and putting up flyers in student housing.
“We’re trying to do in-person safely, but it’s been difficult because things are constantly changing, and then also making sure everybody’s safe about it is hard too,” said Pack.
“A lot of students feel excluded from campus during this time,” said Pack. “We think that being able to come on campus, get something fun, get something that they can take home and keep and look back at will really help them feel welcome on campus again.”
The UAB is also looking to recruit new members during these events.
“Some of our directors will be graduating and moving on to more intense levels of their courses and won’t be able to really work anymore,” said Linden. “We need to bring in some fresh eyes and some new people.”
Interested students can follow the UAB’s social media accounts for more updates on the week’s events.
