Many people hold to the tradition of stringing up lights and placing Christmas decorations once Thanksgiving passes. Union is no exception.
Upon returning from the week-long break, all the residence complexes pulled out all the stops for Res Life’s Deck The Halls competition.
On Monday night, each dorm building’s Christmas decorations was judged by Union president Samuel W. “Dub” Oliver and his wife Susie; Bryan Carrier, dean of students, and his wife Tricia; and John Netland, dean of the college of arts and sciences, and his wife Tina, administrative assistant to the vice president for student life and dean of students.
“Some of the things [the judges] took into account were originality, production value, hospitality, et cetera,” said Ben Bredow, resident director of the male Quads.
The Union Cup competition is divided into four categories: male and female Heritage and male and female Quads. The top three in each category of “Deck the Halls” received points toward the Cup.
Winners of Deck the Halls received 450 points, second place 200 points and third place 100 points. The overall winner received an additional 200 points.
Competition in the Heritage complex was fierce. The lower half of the main circle was reminiscent of a scene straight out of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, with bright lights and festive figurines.
The male Heritage winners, in order, were Grey, Lee and Jarman. Female winners were Ayers 4, Wright and Craig.
With more buildings to compete against, the Quads had to put on their best show in order to win points toward the second Union Cup.
The top men’s Quads were Hope 1, Watters 1 and Watters 4. The women’s Quads winners were Ayers 1, Hurt 3 and Hurt 4.
After narrowing down the selection, the six judges decided on Grey as the overall winner, with multicolored lights, a tree, doors covered in wrapping paper and a life-size soldier.
As resident assistant of Grey, Jesse Dahms, a junior double major in business management and psychology, talked to his residents before Thanksgiving break and encouraged them to bring back their lights and decorations from home.
However, it was “not until the afternoon of the event” they decided exactly how they would organize their building’s apparel.
Even after deciding on decorations and dividing up into lighting and theme/music work groups, it seemed that the eventual winners would not complete their decorations on time.
“We didn’t have any lights up until after 5:30,” Dahms said. “It took a lot of residents coming together to help in order to finish everything before the judging of the event.”
This win gives Grey a solid lead in the Union Cup going into Christmas Break.
