Freshmen and some returning students were back on campus as of August 20, which began the week of welcome for Quincy University. One of the events planned on August 26 included the housing system carnival, which had activities like axe throwing, contests for prizes, food, and smaller games that Friday afternoon for students to participate in. 

“The house system itself kicks off each year, which started in 2020. To get everyone to be very aware of what we are doing and what we are trying to promote through friendly competition, the university started this tradition. It is to promote various events and activities that we think of as a good way for them to be able to kick off their weekends,” William Joshua Jacobs, director of residence life, said. 

The carnival is not only to increase student engagement but also to promote the housing system. Residence life divides freshmen into different houses every year to promote making new friendships and help competition with events like the carnival. Every student who played mini games, if they won, gained points towards their respective house. 

For events like the carnival, resident assistants and directors must help set up and run activities alongside other QU staff. Many resident assistants were in charge of the mini games and awarding tickets that would be used to raffle big prizes. 

“Our RD put in the group chat and asked if someone wanted to volunteer for this event and I was like yeah I have nothing to do! I want to work and it’s nice weather outside, now I’m here at the station to knock down the cans for a ticket. You have three tries to throw the football to knock down all the cans. There are huge prizes and it’s a nice event,” Jonas Holzinger, a resident assistant, said. 

Students who did attend the carnival also had the ability to win prizes another way besides the raffle. Throughout the carnival there were competitions like pie eating and egg smashing contests. These contests only allowed one representative from each house to play. Which is why if the person representing won they not only received a prize but also a large amount of house points for their team. 

“I saw it on our email, they made it very clear that there was something out here. So, I just wanted to come out and see what it was about. It’s good so far, I like the axe throwing the most and this event just brings a lot of people together that you maybe would not meet if they didn’t have this event,” Jessica Ladd said.

Even if students did not stay the whole time to see the raffle, many stopped in to play a game or to throw an axe. Axe throwing was brought in by Quincy Axe Company, a local company that has a student discount for QU students. 

“This is not my first on campus event but I really like it when the school hosts events like this. Because it kind of allows students to come together and kind of celebrate the end of a week as well as the start of a new school year,” Daphne Moss said. 

At the end of the afternoon the biggest prizes were raffled off and many students hoped to cash in their tickets from winning games. Joe Siemer won the grand prize, a flat screen television. 

As Siemer walked up to collect his prize his roommate Kamou Harris also walked up with a smile. Harris explained to the crowd of students that instead of just Siemer winning it was like both of them had won.