Events
 

The Avalanche organization is here to help encourage students to become involved by taking active roles in building community and creating a positive environment throughout the building.  Our aim is to connect with and empower the residents of Snyder Hall with excellent activity opportunities on Friday nights.  As such the programs we run are large scale and all inclusive, and also cover a variety of genres.

The following are some of the events we've done:


Capture the Flag
09.17.04 @ 9:00 - South Quad and Outside Kranert
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The first official Avalanche event - which went rather well, actually. The theory was that we'd get a ton of people together to play capture the flag - easily planned and coordinated by a couple of us with loud voices. Sean and Jeff worked as team captains as well as referees, ensuring as many people were involved and having fun as possible. The first games took place on the South Quad, but we moved to the outside of Kranert after we found that it's hard to have an effective game on an open field. Kranert has a unique layout that provides for many opportunities to sneak around, hide, and protect flags, it's really an excellent environment.  This event yielded approximately 60 static people.  We watched the film Old School afterwards down in the tunnels.

Chocoholic Night
 09.24.04 @ 9:00 - Rec Room, PBD Tunnels
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Chocoholic night pulled in more people from outside of Snyder than any other event to date. We ran a table of fondue that was continually brought out in waves from the kitchen - bananas, apples, cookies, and pretzels were available for dipping. Our kitchen crew helped serve up Smores and Hot Chocolate throughout the night. Later we had a large pudding eating contest - but not what you'd expect - participants had to eat two full little cups of pudding without their hands. RA Amy helped lead competition with Chocolate Trivia that of course had chocolate as prizes. We watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory to end the night.  About 70 people came in and out throughout the entire night!

Sardines vs. Ghost in the Graveyard
10.08.04 @ 9:00 - Rec Room, PBD Tunnels
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Was cancelled because of bad weather, instead we had a games night with DDR, Twister, and Halo in the basement, we had about 20 loyal members and passers by join us.

Rest and Relaxation Night
10.15.04 @ 8:00 - Side rooms, PBD Tunnels
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Another popular event which featured a clinic given by McKinley students on stress and coping skills, as well as a lesson on how to give massages. Residents practiced on each other.  We also made stress balls and RA Dave helped teach basic yoga techniques that might be used to wake up in the morning or relax between studies.  Finished the night off with a relaxing movie, Forest Gump.  We opened up with 40 people for relaxation and massages, and winded down to about 10 near the end for the film.

Boo Bash or "Fall Ball"
10.29.04 @ 7:00 - Snyder Main Lounge
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A multifaceted series of events all in collation to make up an Avalanche. We started off with a decoration competition for Homecoming which doubled as decoration for the dance. Early in the night we had a pumpkin carving contest and later on the Halloween Costume Dance (Fall Ball).  The pumpkin carving went really well - there were several incredibly impressive designs that might rival professional carving. The Homecoming area decoration was mainly for the dance and thus didn't win the competition, but the dance went well, calling in around 30 people at once at peak time, about 50 visiting throughout the entire night. Jeff helped DJ and RA Amy and RA Dave helped to award prizes for costumes and pumpkin carvings. Afterwards we watched Napoleon Dynamite!

Cartoons and Cartooning
11.05.04 @ 9:00 - Rec Room, PBD Tunnels
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This event inlcluded a marathon of famous and excellent humorous cartoons in the Rec Room in the tunnels - Family Guy, Simpsons, and The Critic were all viewed by popular vote. In addition Julio, a local artist and resident helped to teach kids how to draw various cartoon types and explained some basic drawing pinciples concepts. Residents were also able to mess around with coloring books and crayons, taking a trip back to our childhood! Jeff sprawled out some of his graphic design material on a local table and Kevin people hung out getting to know each other for the whole night. About 30 residents passed through this one.

Games Galore
11.12.04 @ 9:00 - Rec Room, PBD Tunnels
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A surprisingly successful night - we hung out switching off playing DDR in the Rec room while people started congregating. After about 12 arrived we switched over to playing Cranium, and by the time that game ended we accumulated enough people to start in on the Mafia. We had several very large mafia games, the largest involving around 30 people! Eventually the night winded down and we watched Mean Girls up in Jeff's room with about 15 people. The night had probably around 50 people stop in and play.

Thanksgiving Lonely Fest
11.19.04 @ 9:00 - Jeff's Room (394 Snyder)
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A rather small event that Jeff ran for the people who were still in town on the Friday night before Thanksgiving break. About 10 people all watched a series of movies - Dirty Dancing and The Skulls and ate food hanging out in Jeff's room for the night.

A Night On the Ice
12.05.04 @ 7:00 - Ice Arena and Snyder Main Lounge
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Ending the semester with a bang, we gathered up a small group of people and trekked over to the Ice Arena for the Ohio hockey game. It was close and even went into over-time, after which we congregated in Snyder and ate Pizza and Pokey Sticks. When 10:00 rolled around everyone headed over to the Ice Arena, where we split up into 4 teams and ran 2 games simultaneously. Only about 40 some people were able to be on the ice at once, so we had people switch up around half way to let in those who hadn't yet played. The games were close and featured several key floor rivalries. Over 60 people attended this event!

How to be a Ninja
01.28.05 @ 8:00 - Peabody Area Tunnels
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As our kick off event of 2005! The Illini Jujitsu rso came and demonstrated martial arts with a series of demos, and then the Sensei explained what Jujitsu is and what it means to learners as well as your every day student. After a short Q&A everybody was taught basic self-defense moves used for escape from bad situations. Following this everyone moved into the Rec room for event #2 - Snyder Hall Iron Chef! People formed up into 3 teams and prepared special meals with sets of ingredients in a certain amount of time. The theme food was rice and they then presented to a panel of judges. The winners were awarded their choice of a Michaelangelo Ninja Turtle Action figure or a nice spatula. Following came a chop stick eating contest - residents tried to gobble down the remaining food as fast as they could to win a final nice spatula. About 30 people came to this event.

Appreciation Night
02.11.05 @ 9:00 - Peabody Area Tunnels
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As a combination Snyder Hall Impact and Avalanche event we gathered in the tunnels to make Valentines for the elderly (which were delivered to a living assisted home the next morning), and also planted seeds that would grow into flowers by the time mom's weekend rolls around. Ellen also helped teach kids how to make chocolate bowls and mint candies - a moderate size group also played Scene-It. A movie and music were also featured. About twenty five crafters showed up to express their appreciation in various forms.

Sex in the Snyder
02.25.05 @ 8:00 - Peabody Area Tunnels
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The Sexual Health Peers led a customized presentation about sexuality related topics for our Avalanche group. Sexuality, concepts of abstinence, healthy relationships, fun non-intercourse sexy activities, and contraception were discussed. The Peers also facilitated some discussion on the male and female anatomy, and answered live questions at the end. The Condom Olympics was a fun interlude - groups competed in various ways attempting to perform funny feats with condoms, including girth and inflation tests, a water balloon (condom) toss, and the banana relay race! Then as the final wrap up of the night Nick Greene from CARE and the ‘Sexperts’ (Sexual Health Peers) addressed questions collected in a hat over the course of the night relating to sexuality, contraception/safety and sex, and various other awareness/prevention or violence issues. The night had a few people come and go, but remained steady with about thirty attendees and participants.

Open Mic Night
03.04.05 @ 8:00 - Snyder Main Lounge
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An open mic for performers! Instruments, singers, dancers, beatbox, whatever - the floor was open to whoever came out. Performers had the option of being recorded, and were given CD's of their material afterwards. We converted the Snyder Main Lounge into a coffee house environment - used soft lighting, set up a stage, huge speakers, and had several mics and inputs into the system for multiple artists to be performing at once. Nearly 100 people attended the event, we hit a peak audience point of 70 viewers who came to watch 17 performers and events ranging from singing to piano to poetry to stand up comedy to guitar to flute. The night was a huge hit - so much so that we're going to be hosting another one, likely coming up on April 9th. A collective CD of pictures, sketches (drawn by Julio), and of course the music will eventually be distributed to Snyder residents (with artist permission of course!)

Broomball Returns!
04.01.05 @ 8:00 - Ice Arena
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After the huge success of the first Broomball event we had to bring it back for another. This time we planned ahead enough to be able to reserve the ice for a full two hours and participate in open ice skating beforehand. Residents slowly accumulated and skated around for open skate until the arena close - at which point eleven boxes of pokey stix arrived. After gorging everyone strapped on gear, formed up into two groups - the elite 4NW+ and the massive brawl group and clashed on the ice in two furious games. The beginning ice skaters numbered somewhere around 20 in number, and grew to over fifty broomball players by the nights end. Great job to Linda and Jaylo for running this one.

Open Mic Night Returns
04.09.05 @ 7:00 - Snyder Main Lounge
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Due to the huge amounts of success from the first open mic night we decided to bring another back after Spring Break. This time we started a little earlier, at 7, and went well past midnight with over 25 artists, performers, and groups. Attendence peaked at around 80 people, and we saw around 120 over the course of the night. Once again the material was recorded and will be available up for download on the web site.

Dating 101
04.15.05 @ 8:00 - Peabody Drive Tunels
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We had a lot of demand from the first Sex in the Snyder to bring back another Sexual Health Peers event. Many people were particularly interested in the part of the night that included understandings and opinions on dating and relationships. We covered topics ranging from the interplay of religion and faith on relationships to simply outlooks on what others might look for in who they're attracted to. Several of the facilitators from the first night came back to help orchestrate this next one - a smaller and more intimate group this time attended, which allowed for a great deal more discussion - so much so that we didn't even get through all of the material before time ran out! Once again no pictures were taken for privacy reasons. All in all, it was a good night.

Avalanche Meets Illinites
04.23.05 @ 8:00 - Peabody Drive Area
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One of the key members of the Illini Union Board came to us with a proposal that both Illinites and Avalanche run an event together to get the attention of more people within the dorms. Afterall, some of them would attend Illinite activities, but many didn't really know what it was about. Original plans included a massive array of elements to the planned event. Lighted volleyball and an open mic stage were to be featured outside, along with a raffle prize table. Located adjacent inside was to be karaoke singing and a characature artist. All of Weston was taken up by two projectors and a huge Halo II Tournament. Unfortunately weather did not bid well and we had to move the open mic inside, and scoot over all of the indoor activities to Scott Hall lounge. It's hard to say just how many people came to the event - free pizza brought in many, who then shifted all over the place to different dorms and activities. Our best guess would be over a hundred, but it is difficult to say. For the first event run by both Avalanche and Illinites it was executed very well - a special thanks to all of the Illinites people - especially Katie Vacura and Fatima Aziz who came to help out and participate.

Snyder Hall Coffee Crawl
05.05.05 @ Various places in the Chambana area
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Just before finals we rallied together for one last Avalanche event. With the new leadership fully in charge and myself taking a simple participant role we travelled to Espresso Royal to enjoy some coffee and deserts. From there we ventured to Panera Bread and grabbed a little bit of dinner, and then finally ended up settling down in Moonstruck to end the trip on the delights there. Many people brought homework and study materials with them so as to continue studying for finals with others as the trip progressed. Ultimately at least 40 people showed up for different parts of the venture. T-shirts were of course created - really very cool ones with a custom picture and the Avalanche logo on the back. Thanks to everybody for making the event a solid end to the year!

Illinites
Variable dates and times - Illini Union
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Avalanche officially supports and attends Illinites with groups of people from Snyder Hall. We've hit up a few throughout the semester, bringing in small groups of residents from Snyder.