Photo courtesy of Carley McGovern. Pictured above, SAU students play Grocery BINGO.

Students and faculty are back on campus and ready for a great year! The Campus Activities Board (CAB) and other SAU clubs hosted a plethora of events to kick off the school year. 

“Events during Welcome Week give freshmen numerous events to meet and interact with new people and give them opportunities to bond with new friends,” says SAU senior Ty Tinkham. Tinkham is the CAB Treasurer and a Resident Advisor (RA), which helps him connect with members of the SAU community, including first-year students. 

First-year students moved into their dorms on Wednesday, August 14th, and they enjoyed an ice cream social after meeting in their New Student Seminar (NSS) classes for the first time. In true Davenport fashion, the ice cream was all from Whitey’s!

Thursday night CAB hosted a movie night in the Rogalski Ballroom. Attending students settled in to watch Cars and enjoy some freshly popped popcorn. 

Friday presented an opportunity to head off campus: SAU students took to the lanes at Big River Bowling to show off their skills! On Saturday night, students had the chance to jump for free at Elevate Trampoline Park. 

Once the returning students were settled into campus, the beginning of Welcome Week officially kicked off on Sunday night at the annual block party. SAU students rushed to get in line to get a block party t-shirt and to enjoy a scoop of ice cream from Here’s the Scoop. Bouncy houses and yard games made it the must-attend event of Welcome Week!

Here’s the Scoop is an ice cream food truck, and has previously made appearances at Food Truck Fest and other CAB events. They are a local business that crafts gourmet ice cream in a wide variety of flavors. Check out Here’s the Scoop: http://www.heresthescoopia.com/ 

On the first Thursday of classes, CAB brought back two favorites: Doug’s Wire Writing and Spin Magic. From 11 am to 3 pm, students lined up to get some custom art pieces that are perfect to decorate their dorm. 

Friday night brought some real excitement! CAB invited back another campus classic, Brian Imbus. Imbus is a hypnotist bound to turn any skeptic into a believer. During his awe-inspiring and hilarious show, he used the power of the mind to make SAU students believe they were five years old, that they were famous DJs, and in a movie! This show is truly a delight for both the audience and those under hypnosis. 

SAU senior and Vice President of CAB, Will Haugan, got hypnotized by Imbus. “It was fun to actually be a part of the show this year since for the last few years, I have just watched the show,” Haugen says. “It was fun to experience the feeling of hypnosis.” 

Topping off the weekend, Grocery BINGO was back! Students packed the Rogalski Ballroom once again for this classic CAB event. For a chance to win snacks, groceries, and even big appliances, attendees tested their luck with BINGO. CAB Advisor Jason Richter once again took his position as emcee on Saturday for a great night of BINGO. 

Photo courtesy of Carley McGovern. Pictured above, CAB Advisor Jason Richer hosts Grocery BINGO.

Club Fest wrapped up Welcome Week with a bang! New and returning students had the opportunity to explore all of the clubs that SAU has to offer, and clubs got to meet and recruit new members. CAB brought in Maui Wowi to provide some delicious smoothies as well!

Maui Wowi is a longtime friend of CAB and is often brought in for Club Fest. Those who can’t get enough of their tropical smoothies can find more information about them here: https://www.mauiwowi.com/Home 

Photo courtesy of Carley McGovern. Pictured above, CAB members meet new students at Club Fest. 

Although Welcome Week has come to an end, there are plenty of exciting events on the horizon for this semester. CAB is already looking ahead to family weekend, homecoming week, and casino night! The CAB Executive Board says they are open to suggestions for events that students would like to see. 

Additionally, if students are interested in the behind-the-scenes of all of these events, CAB welcomes them to join in the planning process. Meetings are held every Tuesday at 8 pm in the Gottlieb Conference Room in the Rogalski Center. They are always open to new members!

If students would like to keep up with what events are happening on campus, they should text “CAB” to 71444. This text message service will update students on current and future events, so make sure to sign up!