Winter carnival offers students entertainment, competitions

Cold temperatures greeted the beginning of this year’s Winter Carnival and made this year’s theme, “Freeze Factor” appropriate. Feb. 11 served as the introduction to the week’s events, which began with the traditional food drive.

The 2008 theme, “Freeze Factor,” is based upon the NBC reality show, “Fear Factor.” The theme was chosen by a senior committee member who had advocated the idea in previous years. This year’s committee is led by chair Amanda Krier.

The Winter Carnival provided students with a variety of events that were mainly team- based competitions. Six organizations participated in the competitions in an attempt to gain points for their team. Students who did not belong to a participating organization could still participate in the competitions. However, they could not gain any points from their participation in events.

The food drive proved successful with a donated 500 items. The committee was pleased with the results of the food drive, Krier said.

Also taking place on Feb. 11 was the “Fear That: Live Band Karaoke” event located in the Falcon’s Nest. The karaoke competition was a new event that the committee decided to originate in order to try a new event, said Krier.

“We decided to do karaoke to do something different this year,” she said. “We tried something new this year to see how it would go, and I think it was very successful.”

Following the food drive idea, the carnival committee also ran a “Personal Hygiene Drive” Feb. 12. The drive was designed as an effort to collect donations for a battered women and children’s shelter, called Turning Point. Donations included items such as toothbrushes, shampoo, toothpaste and other hygiene products.

Along with Tuesday’s hygiene drive, an event entitled “Frozen Fear” took place. This particular competition involved two participants un-thawing a frozen t-shirt with only the use of their body and hands. The first team to unthaw the shirt and wear it was declared the winner.

The Falcon’s Nest hosted another event following “Frozen Fear”: a performance by comedian Jay Black.

On Wednesday, the popular poster sale came to the Falcon’s Nest, which provided a variety of posters for students to view and purchase. At noon, the “Food You Fear: Eating Contest” was next on the list of competitions for teams to compete in. The competition offered a selection of spicy and extremely cold foods for teams to attempt to consume food as quickly as possible.

Although this year’s “Freeze Factor” offered a number of events and entertainment for UWRF students, the week-long occasion experienced a lack of student participation. A total of six organizations partook in the events. The carnival week came immediately after break, and that was to blame for the lack of participation, said Krier.

“We didn’t get as many teams as expected, but I think that’s due to it coming up so quick,” Krier said. “It started right after winter break. It’s a learning process, and next year we plan to have it later in the month.”

Many students claimed they were not aware that the Winter Carnival week was even taking place.

“I didn’t even really know about it. I think I might go to the poster sale, but I don’t plan on participating in the rest of the events,” sophomore, Cassie Wood said.

The “Freeze Factor” winter carnival concluded its week with a Falcon hockey game against UW-Stout and an “All Night Party” in the Knowles Center.