Soaring through Spirit Week
The University of Houston-Clear Lake held its annual Spirit Week Oct. 10-14. The campus invited students, faculty, staff and alumni to partake in daily festivities, wear green and blue, decorate doors, windows and offices and spread the word about the ever-growing University of Houston-Clear Lake.
The Office of Student Life put together a full week of spirited festivities.
This year’s line up included Bingo and Breakfast, I Heart UHCL Day, Grad Fest, UHCL Cares Day and the Friday night CAB Glow Dance.
Campus RECess was set to take place on Oct. 11 in the Delta Fields, however, the event was canceled because of bad weather conditions. The heavy rain caused the fields to be too wet for the games.
“Cancellations happen, but it is a bummer for this event,” said Jacob Crawford, coordinator of campus recreation. “It is something that was fun for the students last year and was definitely something I was looking forward to.”
At this time, there are no plans to reschedule, but Campus Recreation is entertaining the possibility of setting something up for the spring. For those students who were bummed kickball wasn’t a part of spirit week this year, Crawford said that it wasn’t in the cards this year, but “that doesn’t mean that we can’t do a kickball game with faculty/staff vs. students another time,” Crawford said. So stay tuned kickballers!
The backbone of UHCL Spirit Week is I Heart UHCL Day. This tradition is one of the campus’ largest and most attended events. Blue and green oriental paper lights hung from the ceiling of Atrium II as students, faculty and visitors of the university assembled Oct. 12 in the Bayou Building for refreshments, activities, contests and prizes.
Among those contests were the office decoration contests. This university tradition encourages all of the offices to decorate their windows, doors and/or entire offices. The office with the best decoration wins the prize. The winners were announced during I Heart UHCL Day.
Students, staff, faculty and alumni were encouraged to cast their votes using an online voting site that posted photos of all of the entries.
“The online voting was a success,” said Patrick Cardenas, assistant director of Student Life.
Prizes were awarded for the following categories: Best Door, Best Office, Best Window, Most Spirited Individual and Most Spirited Group. The winner of each category took home a UHCL decorated mum.
Counseling Services’ “Peanuts”-themed door won the Best Door, and Neumann Library won Best Window with their Monopoly theme. The Office of Admissions took home the prize for the Best Office with their Super Mario Hawk Brothers theme. Brianna TenBrick, a member of the UHCL Spirit Squad, walked away with the prize for being the Most Spirited Individual, and the most spirited group award went out to the Student Assistance Center.
“The idea and inspiration for the office decoration was a combined effort,” said Amanda de Gracia from the Office of Admissions. “The Super Mario Hawk Brothers was an original piece.” Her sister Natasha de Gracia, who also works in the Admissions Office, drew the Hawk Brothers.
UHCL’s very own Spirit Squad gave a debut performance at this year’s I Heart UHCL Day, which included an original cheer and a dance.
“The Spirit Squad’s role on campus is to promote school spirit and morale on campus and within the community,” said Autumn Mason, founder and captain of the UHCL Spirit Squad.
The girls are hoping to take their squad to the next level sometime in the future by competing in collegiate cheer competitions.
Grad Fest was held in Atrium II Oct. 13. Herf Jones was there selling caps and gowns, class rings and invitations. Students had the opportunity to take a professional photo in their cap and gown and decorate their caps.
“Decorating my cap is something I’m definitely going to do before I graduate in December,” said Jameka Richards, senior healthcare administration major. “I am going to decorate it red and silver for my sorority Delta Xi Nu.”
Spirit Week concluded with a UHCL Alumni Celebration at Space Center Houston on Oct. 15 and a Campus Activity Board (CAB) Glow Dance on Oct. 14.
The CAB Glow Dance was held in the Garden Room. CAB handed out 50 white t-shirts for students to decorate. A DJ played a variety of dance music and everything was aglow in the dark. They also served pizza and had Nintendo Wii games for those not interested in dancing.
“This event is planned by our traditions committee and is the last Spirit Week event for current students,” said Makayla Ellis, president of CAB. “The purpose is to promote school spirit by having fun and dancing with friends!”
OTHER LINKS OF INTEREST
UHCL offices show off their pride for Spirit Week
Created by: Anthony Huynh
In honor of Spirit Week, UHCL offices decorated their windows and doors to show their UHCL pride. Awards were handed out on I Heart UHCL day for those participating in the #IHeartUHCL 2016 decorating contest. READ MORE
FACEBOOK ALBUM: I Heart UHCL Spirit Week 2016
Created by: Anthony Huynh
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