MUC Madness helps students let off steam

With a magician, bingo, inflatables, food and prizes, the Muenster University Center is bringing midnight madness back to the University of South Dakota.

The MUC Madness event, held each semester, will start at 8 p.m. Friday in the MUC dining area with magician James David, and activities will continue until 2 a.m. Vermtown Bingo will be held at 9 p.m., and the inflatables, free food and prizes will run 11 p.m.-2 a.m. As part of the late evening activities, there will also be a Halloween costume contest, slam dunk basketball, laser tag, wacky trikes and karaoke.

“We started MUC Madness in fall 2011,” said Jill Ward, director of the MUC. “It was the first year the MUC got its own programming budget, and I borrowed the idea from another school.”

Ward got the idea from another college that held its midnight madness event in its athletic center, so Ward took the idea and built the event around the MUC.

“There’s a company that does packages with different types of inflatables, so I sit down and pick things I think the students will like,” Ward said.

Ward also evaluates the previous activities she’s brought to the event to decide whether she’ll bring them back again.

“We’ve had the velcro wall in the past, but all you do is just jump into a wall, so this year I chose slam dunk basketball, because it has an end goal and you can still be active,” she said. “We’ll have laser tag again in the pit lounge, and I thought the wacky trikes would be fun. I wanted something like the hamster balls that wasn’t as difficult to facilitate.”

Free food and pop will be set up in the dining area, along with karaoke.

“We added karaoke this year so it’s an ongoing event, and it’s something more passive,” Ward said. “When they’re not running around, they can hang out and watch karaoke.”

Since the event will take place the day after Halloween, Ward decided to hold a costume contest in conjunction with midnight madness.

“Especially for students who are under 21, it gives them a place to celebrate Halloween and have fun, and it’s acceptable,” Becky Chamberlin, MUC graduate assistant.

Ward said the event was also purposely scheduled the same weekend as Family Weekend.

“If you have your siblings and parents here, there’s something for them to do on campus,” Ward said. “It’s a nice way to let off some steam.”

Junior Carissa Selken has attended previous midnight madness events.

“I went last year, and would encourage students who have never gone to go check it out,” Selken said. “It’s free, and I got a t-shirt. There was food, and I love bingo.”

Ward said even though it’s a campus event, it’s still fun.

“Students tend to think that because we’re sponsoring it, it’s lame,” she said. “It’s a fun way to get students over to the MUC and make the student center feel like the center of campus.”