What’s a problem many college freshmen face? Finding friends. To help LSU’s freshman do just that, the University Center for Freshman Year Student Council, with help from the Center for Academic Advising and Counseling, threw an event Tuesday called Meet Your Tiger Match.
“We wanted to provide that outlet for people to come and talk, and collaborate here, and be themselves, have fun and make some new friends.” said Tori Mire, UCFY College Council president. “We just thought that it would be great opportunity for people to come and meet people outside of just a classroom setting, because a lot of times freshmen, if they’re not involved in a lot of clubs, it could be easy to get lost in the shuffle.”
As students arrived at the event, they were introduced to a “Monster Mash” remix, a giant stack of Chick-fil-A sandwiches and the option of Sprite or water for drink, as well as candy covering the empty tables spread out in the large space. The event was hosted in the Student Union’s Magnolia room. Around 30 people attended, though some left at the start, meaning only three of the many tables filled up.
“We overshot the amount of sandwiches that we needed, but we were very happy with the people that did come and the turnout we had,” Mire said.
This was the first event the UCFY’s College Council had planned and hosted.
Some of the students who came were confused about what the night entailed because of the name. A Tigerlink event titled the meeting simply as “Meet Your Match.”
“The way my friend described it was speed dating, which was weird,” marketing freshman Sophia Hollaway said.
There was no speed dating, as it turned out, but there were games.
As the event began, students were handed flash cards and instructed to write their name, major, year, favorite food and what their super power would be if they had one.
After filling out flashcards students had to find their “superpower partner” and describe how their partner’s superpower complemented their own.
One group had time travel and super speed. The time traveler piggy-backed on the super speeder for quick transportation, the students said.
Another pair had Batman and ice-powers. The student with ice-powers helped Batman seek vengeance.
Once each superhero pair was assembled, a rock-paper-scissors tournament commenced. The goal: to decide which superhero was best.
Afterward, the students were pitted against each other in debate. They had to pick a side on a specific controversy, discuss possible arguments and designate a speaker. Then, the speakers verbally duked it out in the center of the room.
Topics included Raising Cane’s versus Chick-fil-A, whether to cook ramen noodles on the stove or in the microwave, hot versus cold weather and Halloween versus Christmas. Another topic was if jambalaya should be eaten with a spoon or fork; everyone agreed that spoons were the superior utensil.
The debates were heated, as speakers passionately argued their side.
Christmas had family reunions, but Halloween had candy; stove-cooked ramen noodles tasted better, but microwave-cooking was more convenient; and Cane’s had better sauce, but Chick-fil-A had more options.
Debate ended only when the speakers ran out of things to say.
Afterward, participants were encouraged to introduce themselves to two people they had not previously met and play two truths and a lie. Deep interrogation proceeded at every table.
Once all the lies were uncovered, most students left, but a few stayed to play charades.
To fill in for the absent, the UCFY college council joined in as the group swung imaginary bats, drove pretend cars and jumped up and down in pantomime.
The event ended with food and candy to spare. Those who remained swapped information.
“It helped me get out of my comfort zone and make new friends,” said art and design sophomore Jade Young. “I accomplished a lot.”
