MISHAWAKA – Dude Week has finally come to an end, and it’s time to look back at all the pan-dude-monium that took place.
On Monday night, Feb. 10, a slip and slide ran the length of one of Oakwood’s halls. The innovative gentlemen of Oakwood accomplished this by covering a first-floor hall in a giant tarp, slathering it with water and body wash and putting a mattress at the end to avoid gratuitous injuries. Consequently, it’s about the nicest Oakwood has smelled in a year. After the water and soap had mixed well enough, the boys could build up enough speed to move the mattress a few feet back from where the others were holding it.
Tuesday, Feb. 11, Oakwood held a dorm Bible study. The residents trekked up to AC 342 for a mini-chapel service and a Resident Advisor trivia night. The catch is that the halls couldn’t answer questions about their own RAs; a tie between two of the halls led to a tie-breaking round of rock-paper-scissors. The winner of the event was Bailey Mott’s hall on the first floor of Oakwood.
Immediately following this was a Family Feud-like event where each RA had to answer three questions, with each answer being drawn from a poll of every freshman in Oakwood. If the RAs answered the questions correctly, they were safe; if they answered incorrectly, they had to suffer a punishment. Embarrassing phone calls, tickling and other horrors were visited upon the unlucky RAs who couldn’t correctly answer questions like who had the best hair among their ranks.
On Wednesday, Feb. 12, Oakwood held a Water Pong tournament in the basement. The bracket consisted of roughly two teams per hall; each team had two members that alternated throwing two pingpong balls at the opposing team’s cups of water. The Oakwood Resident Director, Nat Montiel, served pancakes hot off the griddle to the hungry crowd. After a few tense games, one of the two teams from Matthew Pietsch’s hall emerged victorious.
The last event of Dude Week was the dorm vs. dorm (vs. dorm) competition on Thursday, Feb. 13. The boys in Oakwood, Manges and Founders’ Village all competed to win various challenges: a competitive eating relay, a three-point shoot-out competition, a Mario Kart tournament, a home-run competition and a three-way dodgeball game. A win for each game was worth three points for first place, two points for second place and one point for third place. All dorms made valiant efforts, but Oakwood took home the Dude Week flag.
In retrospect, the most important aspect to remember about Dude Week is the fellowship and brotherhood it inspired among the young men on campus. The tech-cleanse and communal events helped everyone who participated grow closer to neighbors they might have otherwise not even met. That is what fella-ship is all about.