The Union Cup is a new, year-long competition consisting of eight events between residential buildings on Union’s campus.
The competition was created by Residence Life staff to build a sense of camaraderie and competition across campus.
“We wanted to find a way for students to unite with the people they live with,” Director of Residence Life Ken Litscher said.
“Sometimes, it can be hard to get to know the people in your residence hall since you walk by so many closed doors to your apartment.
“We thought a year-long competition could help create and grow community in the building.”
The Union Cup is planned to be an annual Residence Life competition.
Residents of each building participate in a series of events throughout the fall and spring semesters.
Some events are only for specific groups, such as women’s buildings or Heritage buildings, but each building can compete in six of the eight events, allowing equal opportunity to win.
Most of the events have existed previously in some form, although a few will be new.
The overall winner of the year will receive the Union Cup trophy, a steak dinner, T-shirts and bragging rights, said Cody Curtis, assistant resident director of the Men’s Quads.
“It took a considerable amount of time to work all the details out for this first year,” Curtis said. “We had to decide which events to carry over into the Union Cup from previous years and which ones would we leave out.
“Another challenge was crafting it in such a way that every building could earn the same amount of points.”
Winners of individual events receive points toward the Union Cup as well as prizes including restaurant coupons, T-shirts, premium parking and other incentives.
This way, at the end of the year, if students in a particular building have no chance of winning the cup, they still have a reason to compete.
“I think we’ve already seen students uniting together more than in years past,” Litscher said. “There are a bunch of buildings who have designed and bought T-shirts for themselves, and some have even created flags and songs.”
The Union Cup gives the buildings something to strive for, said Hunter Hawes, junior biblical studies major and RA of Jarman.
“The Cup has brought us together as a team, and I think we have the best spirit of any other dorm out there,” Hawes said. “Just being a team and putting in the effort has gotten us wins so far in the first two events.”
Four of the eight events have already taken place.
These include Great Outdoors, Deep-fried Olympics, Costume Coffee House and Treasure Hunt.
“Any time you start a new tradition, you are nervous about its reception,” Litscher said. “But we have seen great competition and excitement for our events and the overall cup competition.
“We hope that it will be a regular part of the Union culture after a few more years.”
COMING UP
The next Union Cup event will be Deck the Halls Nov. 21, during which students will decorate the campus in preparation for the holidays.
CURRENT STANDINGS
1. Ayers 2: 7,500
2. Grace 2: 7,200
3. Ayers 1: 7,000
4. Jarman: 6,700
5. Hope 2: 4,600
6. Ayers 3: 4,000
7. Rogers: 3,600
8. Hope 1: 3,200
9. Pollard: 2,800
10. Grey: 2,400
COMPLETED EVENTS
Great Outdoors, Oct. 3
Deep-fried Olympics, Oct. 17
Costume Coffee House, Oct. 31
Treasure Hunt, Nov. 5
UPCOMING EVENTS
Deck the Halls, Nov. 21
Minute to Win It, March 3
Egg-stravaganza, April 21 or 22
Field Day, May 6
