Competition heats up for Union Cup

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In the midst of the semester, the second annual Union Cup continues with competitions between the residential buildings on campus.

Kevin Morgan, senior psychology major and residence advisor of Watters 3, said he thinks that the competition was created by Residence Life staff to build a sense of camaraderie and competition across campus.

“Students from different buildings get to not only have fun and cultivate building spirit, but also meet people from other buildings and enjoy a little friendly competition,” Morgan said.

When the Union Cup began, Ken Litscher, director of residence life, said that the goal was “to find a way for students to unite with the people they live with.”

“We started it to encourage healthy competition between buildings because we think it creates a tighter community in the building and provides some fun incentives for the different events throughout the year,” Litscher said. “A couple new initiatives this year are that students earn points for their building when they swipe their ID card at home athletic games, when they organize a service event with their RA, and if they post pictures to Instagram of the event and tag @uureslife with the hashtag #UUCup.”

Erin Allen, senior social work major and residence advisor of Hurt 1, said she is excited about this year and has a good feeling about winning.

“I haven’t won the Cup…yet,” Allen said. “My favorite building event is Costume Coffee House, because it is basically a big Halloween party and each building can receive points for dressing up. My building hasn’t discussed what we are doing yet, but I am hoping we can collaborate on ideas as a group.”

Allen said she also enjoys volunteering with her residents.

“I love this because I am a social work major, and it is neat because if a building serves together, they receive points toward the Cup,” she said. “It’s a win-win.”

Leigh Margaret Bostic, senior accounting major, said the Union Cup is something she looks forward to.

“It was so much fun last year,” Bostic said. “We didn’t win anything really but it was still so fun getting to hang out with my building. We got matching shirts and I got to meet and become good friends with a lot more girls in my building.”

Students compete in the different events during both the spring and fall semester.

Some events are for specific groups, like the women’s complexes or just Heritage buildings, but each building can compete in six of the eight events.

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.

Morgan said he is looking forward to seeing who wins the competition.

“This is the second year of the Union Cup, and Jarman won last year,” he said. “I’m most looking forward to some upsets during events. It’s early in the year-long competition, so it’s still anybody’s game. Our building, like others on campus will soon be sporting building t-shirts too.”

Morgan said it can be easy for students to close their doors and forget about the rest of campus.

“This is especially true if you’ve got studying to do, or if you and your roommates get along really well,” he said. “The Union Cup allows guys and girls across campus to open their doors, have fun playing participating in fun events and meet people in the process.”

Other opportunities for buildings to earn points toward the Cup include: Deep Fried Olympics, Watters Great Outdoors, Costume Coffee House, Treasure Hunt, Deck the Halls, Minute to Win It, the Union ½ K race, Egg-stravaganza and Field Day.

While the women’s quad buildings have not yet had an opportunity to earn points, the top five standings are listed below: