Sophomore Review: Battle of the Buildings a rewarding experience

Generally held during the spring semester, Battle of the Buildings (BOB) is a series of teamwork events that can bring about building unity and fun for the entire Rider community.

This year, the events included a wing eating contest, basketball, dodge ball, a relay race and an ice cream eating contest. So, the real question is, why should people participate in BOB?

The first reason is to show pride in your residence hall, and let everyone know you are the best in athletics, know the most trivia and have the best stomachs on campus.

The second reason to participate this year is, of course, for the free food. I wish I had the chance to compete in those contests because if I did, I could have helped my team to victory by stuffing my face with ice cream.

BOB serves as a way to bond with other building members. If you’re the kind of person that likes to watch people “dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge,” feel free to participate in the dodge ball competition. If you love food then participate in the all-you-can-eat contest, it’s a free way to eat a lot of delicious food. If you want-fast paced action against others, then you should participate in the relay races.

Another great reason to participate is to be active. Some of these events require you to move around for a while, which is good if you’re looking to burn a few calories.

Lastly, the winner of BOB wins $500 for their residence hall. The money could be used for improvements in the halls, like a new television in the lounge, Xbox connect, quench station or a printing station.

Last year with BOB, one of the best things we did in Conover was create our own T-shirts. Since our team color was white last year, a bunch of other freshmen and I painted our names on them and I personalized mine with my handprints on the back to give it a cool effect. I signed up to participate in the relay race and it was simple. What I had to do was; tie my shoes, do pushups and sit-ups and then race to the finish line. It felt good to win something for my building and since there were only three people on the team, we had finished in the fastest time.

I had planned to participate in the relay race again, however, I wasn’t able to attend because I had class. Yet, thanks to the Kroner Residence Hall Association we had a lot of participation from others this year and won the activities portion of BOB.

So if you have pride in your building and you want to show it, you should participate in Battle of the Buildings. Next semester, I expect to see more people participating from every residence halls and showing their building spirit.

– Neil Rasbury

Sophomore journalism major