Due to a new scoring system, any campus organization is now eligible for the President’s Cup if 6-10 members participate in a banner competition, Campus and Community Day and Bulldog Olympics.
The system allows teams to earn points for each event, up to a maximum combined total of 1,000. First place will be awarded the trophy and $300, second place will be awarded $100 and third place will receive $50.
Any group that participates in Campus and Community Day will be awarded 200 points.
The banner competition, worth 400 points, requires every group to decorate the gym walls with a banner for the homecoming games. Two hundred possible points will be awarded for participation. Fifty possible points can be earned in each of four categories: creativity, quality, school spirit and originality.
Bulldogs Olympics, held Tuesday night of homecoming week, is also worth a possible 400 points. Participation is worth 200, and additional points are awarded for placing in the top ten for each of ten events.
Competition for the cup, awarded during halftime of the homecoming game each year, has been solely focused on community service for the past four years. Organizations had to keep detailed records of service their members completed and fill out “a kind of subjective and difficult” application, according to Will Duncan, engineering major and senior class president.
To simplify the process, Jason Castles, assistant dean of students, collaborated with Duncan, Karen Taylor, associate director of student leadership and engagement and Jared Dauenhauer, assistant director of student leadership and engagement.
“We wanted every group of any size to have an equal chance, but we felt like it was intimidating… so we took a step back and said how can we recognize service but make it fun and build school spirit?” Castles said .
“I think [the new system] will be much more fun, easier, and more satisfying,” Duncan said. “I’m excited to see how many people come out, not just to participate but also to watch.”
