Rubber balls flew back and forth late into the evening as over 200 students packed into Rush Gymnasium to attend Kappa Alpha Theta’s annual dodgeball tournament April 15. The event, planned by Anthea Taeuber (sophomore) and Laura Scott* (junior), raised over $2000 dollars for the Court Appointed Special Advocates foundation (CASA), according to Taeuber. CASA is a program across the country that works to give a special advocate to each child that has been removed from their home due to abuse or neglect. CASA attempts to give those children someone to support them and to help find them a better home.
“CASA is the national philanthropy of Kappa Alpha Theta, which means that every Theta chapter in the nation has CASA as their main philanthropy that they donate their funds to,” Scott said.
This year’s event provided those in attendance with more than just a dodgeball tournament, according to Taeuber, Theta’s service and philanthropy chair. In addition to a silent auction, Theta had food from Town Pizza, Donut Friend and Spitz.
Beyond the food and silent auction, Taeuber and Scott also changed things up this year by giving the event a theme, a change from years past.
“This year Laura had the fantastic idea for it to be blacklight — like glow in the dark,” Taeuber said.
Scott and Taeuber also lined up two DJs, Anoop D’Souza (sophomore) and Mariana Martinez (sophomore), to play during the event to add an extra layer of entertainment to the event.
“We just wanted it to appeal to a wider range of people, not just the sports teams and frats that typically sign up for dodgeball,” Scott said. “We also wanted more to be going on alongside the tournament so that people could be engaged instead of just watching the tournament.”
According to Theta member Naomi Newman (junior), the changes added a different feel to the event.
“Since dodgeball started it has generally been the same, so [Scott] and [Taeuber] really wanted to change it up,” Newman said via email. “Changing the time to the evening as well as adding the blacklights gave it a very different vibe; it was much harder to see the dodgeballs and the players.”
Tiger Sports Information Network (TSIN), the student sports broadcasting club on campus, was also present at the event. Four TSIN members — club president Owen Hill** (senior), president-elect Matt Weiser (junior), Tristan Santos (sophomore) and Kyle Costello (sophomore) — represented TSIN by MC’ing and assisting Theta in managing the tournament.
“It was a great way for the club to take what we do in the [broadcasting] booth and apply it to a live event,” Santos said.
The tournament, split into an advanced bracket and a beginner’s bracket, awarded trophies to the two winning teams: We Peaked in High School and Oxypreneurship.
“The event was really well planned and the glowing decorations were on point,” We Peaked in High School team member Carlton O’Neil (sophomore) said. “Everyone there was super excited to play and the DJ was killing it so there was a great environment down there.”
Theta Dodgeball proved to be not only a fast-paced event, but also an opportunity for students to play for charity.
“People were super excited to be a part of it, not only to have fun with friends but also because the event was for our philanthropy organization, CASA,” Theta member Barani Maung Maung (junior) said via email. “It’s amazing how every year we come together as a campus to support something that is really important for Theta.”
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*Scott is a Weekly staffer.
**Hill is a sports section editor for the Weekly.
