Melanie Veasey
Social Affairs
Co-chair, guest columnist
Do you ever wonder where all the guys of Milligan
College are hiding out all night every night?
The answer is obvious-they are busy playing Halo!
It’s sweeping the campus, and now the girls are getting in on it too. In an
effort to host new events that are more appealing to the general student body,
SGA Social Affairs hosted the first ever X-Box Halo Tournament on Nov. 21 in the
SUB.
The event was a huge undertaking and went off with even better success than the
committee had imagined.
While “Halo” is the buzzword through the men’s residence halls, it seems to be
some secret society that kept Milligan guys fixated on the television night
after night.
So Social Affairs went on a search to uncover the appeal of Halo. At first it
seemed to be just another video game, but this is not your momma’s Mario. Halo
is played not on the old school Nintendo, but on the Microsoft X-Box.
Although the title might suggest a heavenly sort of game, Halo actually takes
place on an alien planet.
The player becomes a robot out to discover the secrets of the puzzling world
filled with transporters, varying levels, and hidden rooms.
The game offers multiple scenarios, scenes and armaments. With multiple TV
screens, X-Boxes, and Ethernet cords, virtually an unlimited number of players
can play at the same time.
In the Social Affairs tournament, the game was played with teams of four, each
using two televisions in separate rooms. The teams played capture the flag on
the Wizard level, and the first team to retrieve five flags won the game.
A total of six teams entered the double elimination tournament, including a
tough team of women.
The brackets were made by an outside source, Jonathan Feathers, to insure a pure
competition. Beginning promptly at 10 p.m., the tournament lasted a total of two
and a half hours.
The winners were the notorious Kegley boys Josh Callaway, Travis Deyton, Matt
Joseph, and Andrew King. Each of these guys received a $25 gift certificate to
any store in The Mall at Johnson City, a prize totaling $100!
In an upset, a group of freshmen from Webb took second place. That team included
Justin Ciralsky, Chris Covey, Ryan Morris, and Ryan Reynolds. The team received
a few parting gifts which included Checkers, Old Maid, playing cards, and
Playdough.
The evening was an awesome event for Social Affairs, and will hopefully be
repeated in the spring. Over 60 people were involved in the night either as
participants or supporters.
Social Affairs provided pizza, chips, cookies and drinks for the participants.
The committee worked very hard to put this together and should all be commended
for their work.
Josh Callaway headed up the setup crew who worked for an hour and half to get
all the televisions and X-Boxes connected.
The IT department donated four Ethernet cords for the event as well. Without the
help of all the committee members and IT, this tournament would have never
happened.
Social Affairs has a more dynamic committee this year than ever, and their
enthusiasm was spotlighted with this event.
The success of the Halo Tournament (and all the events of this semester) can
only leave the Milligan College community dreaming about the grandeur of
Wonderful Wednesday 2004!