Homecoming week mystery event engages students in a game of human Clue

Students walking into Finch Fieldhouse for the Mystery Event Wednesday night prepared themselves for the worst-case scenario.

In just minutes, they would be asked to do who-knows-what, and no matter what the task, they had to be able to do it fairly well if they hoped to win points for their team. Homecoming Committee Co-chair Megan Ellinger announced the directions from atop a chair: teams would be competing in a game of Clue.

Rather than solving for a murder, teams found information about some missing Chippewa Gold by filling in the missing pieces of the statement, “___ stole the Chippewa Gold from ___ during ___!”

“This was a literal interpretation of ‘mystery event’,” said Ellinger, a Rockford senior.

Students were sent hunting around the the UC, asking Homecoming Committee members and university faculty vague questions that would help them fill in the missing pieces. Students could spend three minutes asking questions at each of the 19 stations located around the UC.

There were nine faculty members who participated in the event by providing clues for teams.

“The goal was to have students get to know some of the faculty,” Ellinger said. ”Maybe you didn’t know Kim Voisin was director of residence life, but now that you know her, (and) you can go ask for advice if you live in the residence halls.”

Ellinger said she wanted to do something more interesting and engaging for students this year as compared to previous years.

“It was something new and unusual to do, as opposed to the more traditional events,” she said. “We wanted students who have been here for four years to still get excited about (Homecoming events).”

Bellaire junior and “New Towers” team member Mary Walsh said although she didn’t like waiting at each station, she really enjoyed the event and how into it everyone was.

“I like the longer event better,” she said. “Our team really came together and it made you think, ask out-of-the-box questions and make your brain work.”

“New Towers” won the competition by being the first ones to guess correctly Assistant Director of Student Life Damon Brown had stolen the Chippewa Gold from the seal during the All-American Rejects kick-off concert. Cobb Hall came in second place, with Larzelere Hall in third.

Kappa Delta Pi came in first place out of the three teams competing for the Golden Goblet.

Asian Cultural Organization team member Ping Los said he enjoyed the event, but had some difficulty with the directions at the beginning.

“It was a little confusing at first, but we finally got the hang of it,” the Mount Pleasant junior said. “The instructions just weren’t very clear and we weren’t sure what we could ask people.”

Ellinger said there were some issues with the event, but overall she got great feedback from students.

“This was the initial run of it, so there’s always issues you run into,” she said. “But it was a really fun event, I’m glad we got to plan it and people seemed to enjoy it so much.”

Stephanie Oldeck, who was participating in her first event as a Kappa Kappa Psi team member, said the event was a little crazy but she had fun working through problems with her team and being involved in Homecoming.

“When it comes down to it; Homecoming is a competition, but at the end we all come together to support our school as one,” the Tecumseh sophomore said. “That’s what makes it cool. It’s a friendly rivalry, and we’re all friends in the end.”