Mavathon’s laser tag event raises money for charity

This past Saturday. Minnesota State University, Mankato’s Student Events Team hosted a Laser Tag event in the Otto Recreation Center’s main gym as a fun closer for the Dance Marathon, otherwise known as Mavathon. 

The Mavathon is an annual event run by multiple organizations across campus to raise funds and awareness for sick kids at Mankato’s local children’s hospital. Groups are encouraged to create fundraising pages throughout the year, along with participating in different events, such as Pie-In-The-Face and pumpkin smashing. 

This all leads up to a final day of games, entertainment, and connection with the families that the money goes to. SET got involved with the event this year by orchestrating a huge game of laser tag at the end of the night.

SET member Samantha Schneider explained the laser tag event was new to Mavathon this year. 

“We usually do Galactic Bingo, but this year we wanted to spice it up instead of having people sit around and play Bingo. We wanted an active event,” said Schneider. 

Laser tag was definitely a well loved choice. Multiple teams showed up before the event even started, and there were three different “battlefields” set up in order to have multiple teams playing at once. SET member Maddie Berndt explained that the courses are DIY- inspired. 

“A lot of things are rented through the CSU, like our flex screens, and our cones and rods that we used to make our own obstacles for people to crouch behind. The flex screens are bigger to hide behind, and then the cones and poles make smaller, knee high obstacles,” said Berndt. “It’s a capture the flag situation. Both groups have a light up stick on their flex screen, and the goal of each team is to grab the other’s.”

Even though laser tag is a new event, the team was hopeful for a successful turnout. 

“People who go to Mavathon usually show up to our event after, so we’re hoping for a bigger turnout. Even people who don’t typically come to our events may show up if they were at Mavathon,” said SET member Anna Thevenot.

MSU students were fond of the new event, and most said it brought back moments of childhood nostalgia. 

“I loved playing laser tag when I was younger, and I was excited to relive the experience,” said graduate student Toni Bacigalupa Albaum. 

MSU student Erin Gellings was another who enjoyed the game. “I was excited to come with friends and it just sounded like a fun time,” Gellings stated.

The Mavathon event gathered students from all over campus to raise money for a common cause. The total amount raised was over $5,000 for the Gillette Children’s Hospital, which will assist families of sick and injured kids.

Write to: Syd Berggren at sydney.berggren@mnsu.edu