By Emma Thompson
Blitz Week- Emma Thompson
Blitz Week, an annual fundraiser week, recently ended. The week was headed this year by co-chairs Katie Burks and Emily Brock. Brock and Burks are both senior communications majors, and did a wonderful job in planning the week.
“Blitz week is a week of fundraising and activities that aim to raise money and awareness for different non-profits in Shawnee each year,” said Burks.
Each year, the chairs for Blitz week talk with both Spiritual Life offices and Matt Kearns to discuss potential nonprofits to support.
This year’s nonprofit was Community Renewal, an organization whose goal is to better our communities through intentional relationships, aiming for “neighbors to be neighbors again.”
Blitz week consists of service projects and fun activities for students to participate in. Excluding Thursday, a fun event occurred each day of the week. There were also morning chapels on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
On Monday, there was a sort of “promotional chapel” showing a video to get students excited for the week as well as an explanation of the upcoming events of the week and worship.
Monday’s event was a “service day” in the lower GC where people could come write encouraging letters to local students and teachers as they prepare for state testing.
Tuesday was Qdoba night, where all of the proceeds went to community renewal.
Travis Flood, the Community Director of Community Renewal of Pottawatomie county, spoke during Wednesday’s chapel. Flood shared his testimony and heart for Community Renewal, and the importance of loving and serving your neighbor.
That evening was the annual Mr. Bison pageant. Students paid a $2 admission fee to watch the event, and had the ability to donate cash to cast votes for the people’s choice award. This event alone raised over $500 for Community Renewal. Freshman Caleb Brunet won people’s choice, and this year’s Mr. Bison was junior Steven Schmidt.
“Mr. Bison is always a blast, the guys really give it their all and are not afraid to embarrass themselves to help us raise money, which is so encouraging to see,” said Burks.
Friday chapel included a final update on the monetary funds raised, an announcement from Kaleb Miers reminding students of the Bison Serve happening the following day, prayer and worship.
Friday was also the Humans versus Zombies Final Showdown, held at OBU’s green campus. The Showdown consisted of 3 rounds, lessening the pool of remaining humans each time. This Blitz Week tradition is highly enjoyable for students and faculty alike.
“Last year, I tried to win by staying hidden or sneaking around campus when I needed to get from place to place. People didn’t like that gameplay. So this year I decided to play out in the open with the mentality that if I die I can still have fun as a zombie. To survive, I relied on others, especially Clayton Freeman and Drs. Emerson, Meek, and Bello,” this year’s winner of Humans Versus Zombies Dr. Hess said.
Hess mentioned that his biggest competition was freshman Political Science major Noah Zachary, who was deeply determined and extremely fast.
“During the final showdown I decided to hide. I didn’t think I could hold them back with gunfire, and my knee hurt from running around all week… My view is that no one can survive the showdown without hiding. It’s nuts out there,” Hess said.
Hess said his biggest inspiration is the faculty, stating that “they take the game seriously even though they’re old and have families. Dr. Emerson taught me to hold nothing back. Dr. Bello taught me to get out there and kill zombies even though it puts your life at risk.”
Hess finished by saying he is grateful to C. J. Haynes, Ayden Jones, Simon Dunk, and Pike Butler for making the game a huge success.
Saturday was a unique Bison Serve Day in partnership with Community Renewal where OBU students went out and helped clean up the community, as well as writing more letters to encourage local students and teachers as they prepare for state testing.
