WOW’s bring summer fun to MSU cold campus

After a winter full of cold temperatures, Minnesota State University, Mankato’s What’s On Wednesday events this week are focused on bringing students together through both games and art.

First, the Stadium Heights residence community is doing their annual Dome Night, a night full of games and fun hosted in the Mavericks All Sports Dome. Community Advisor Susan Simonis mentioned the event is a way to let students experience more of MSU’s campus.

“We have been doing this event since the dome opened as a way to get students to see the facility and all it has to offer,” said Simonis. 

The Stadium Heights residential life staff have worked with the dome staff to provide frisbees, soccer balls, and footballs. They will also have bean bag toss and spikeball out for students to participate in along with a planned kickball game. 

“We usually have a large number of students who want to play kickball, so we will coordinate a game of that,” mentioned Simonis.

The Stadium Heights WOW will run from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday night. Games and refreshments will be provided at the field farthest from the dome entrance.

Meanwhile, the Julia Sears residence community is putting on a Bob Ross themed painting night. There will be screens set up in the Julia Sears lobby playing some of Bob Ross’ famed painting videos. Canvases and paint will be provided for residents to follow along or to create their own portraits. Refreshments will be served at this event too. 

“We will be providing them with snacks and drinks to enjoy while they paint,” said CA and WOW lead Elizabeth Sazma. “Snacks will include juice boxes, chips, and candy.”

The Julia Sears WOW is occurring from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the lobby of the residence hall.

For more summer action, the McElroy and Preska residence communities are teaming up to create a volleyball tournament in the Myers Field House. Community Advisor and WOW lead Mikayla Witter explained the event was supposed to be held outside but, due to the weather, they had to switch locations. 

“Ideally, we wanted it outdoors, but with the colder weather right now we’d rather be safe than sorry,” said Witter.

The tournament will run bracket style, with residents free to choose their teams. Both residence communities will be facing off in the end for the ultimate winner. 

“We will have prizes for the winning team which will be giftcards,” said Witter. “For snacks, we’ll be doing fruit snacks, gatorade and granola bars.”

There will be CAs in both lobbies at 6:50 and 7:10 to walk over to Myers Field House with residents, but they are also welcome to walk over themselves at any point after 6:50. The event will run from approximately 7 to 8 p.m.

Lastly, for this week’s WOW, the Crawford residence community is hosting a Crawford Game Night in the lobby from 7 to 8 p.m. Games will be provided from the Crawford front desk, but residents are also encouraged to bring their own.

Header Photo: Julia Sears will be hosting a Bob Ross themed night for this week’s WOW event. (Maddie Behrens/ The Reporter)

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