Student Life Office-sponsored game night lets students “relax and have fun for a little bit”
Three Concordia Nebraska students engage in a game of cards in Cattle Conference Room.
Photo credit: Josiah Horvath
By Josiah Horvath
A Student Life Office-sponsored game night in February furthered connection and community building on campus and relieved stress for students.
Dozens of students attended the two-hour event in the Cattle Conference Room, where they played spikeball, table tennis, and board and card games like Apples to Apples and Ticket to Ride. Students listened to music, ate snacks, and talked with one another in an atmosphere of leisure at the end of the semester’s sixth week.
Freshman Samuel Olson said his semester so far had involved adjusting to new classes and managing sleep and food.
“It’s a balancing process, and I’m getting better at it,” he said.
Game night, he said, helped him get work done by allowing him to relax and have fun.
“It’s like trying to get myself to lighten up a little bit, to kind of just relax and have fun for a little bit,” said Olson. “That way, when I do have to focus on getting work done, it’s a lot easier because I can say, ‘Hey, I already did something fun.’ So I can relax later knowing I had that little bit of break that I needed to get me ready to work again.”
Residence hall coordinator junior Abigail Niemeier, who organized the event, said the Student Life Office seeks to build a sense of community and connection on campus.
“SLO’s goal is to try to get people to feel connected and known on campus,” she said. “And so I wanted to help people feel connected here and have an opportunity for community.”
She said that more and more students have been attending weekend events hosted by resident coordinators and resident assistants.
“This actually exceeded my expectations by quite a bit. We have a pretty good spikeball tournament going on right now,” she said, referring to a tournament during the event. “So people are pretty active.”
Niemeier encouraged all students to come to upcoming events.
“We have them every weekend, and I think they’re a really good way for people to get to know what this campus is all about,” she said.
