Recreational Life
Work hard, play hard at COSMOS with recreational and evening activities!
Photo by Allison Cheng
Mere hours after COSMOS students had left their parents and started to settle into their dorm rooms, everyone was summoned to the OPERS field (Office of Physical Education, Recreation, and Sports) for the Playfair evening event. Teal t-shirts scattered the field as the sun started to set. Those who donned a sweater would be envied soon enough while everyone else learned a valuable lesson about dressing for Santa Cruz’s evening weather. The lively event lasted approximately two hours long and was hosted by two MCs from the outside organization, Playfair. The purpose of this event was to engage students in bonding activities that allowed them to connect with others who they might not encounter on a daily basis in class or in the dorms.
For countless students, almost every face in the crowd was foreign to them. Since everyone was in the same boat though, this made it easier for people to reach out and make new friends. Moreover, the silly, exciting activities naturally prompted people to strike up conversations and find common ground with each other. Some of the activities included creating handshakes with people, trying to choose the same action as their peers without talking beforehand (which included a tiger pose, fireworks gesture, or saying the famous line “How you doin’?”), and a rock paper scissors competition.
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Satvika, a COSMOS student from Cluster 6, said she must have talked to at least 70 people there. Her favorite part was getting to meet people in unique ways. One such way was playing the game, “Boss, Big Cheese, and Top Banana” where one person in a group of three would assign the other two spontaneous tasks. These tasks ranged from high-fiving random people, sprinting across the lawn, or finding people with the same hobby as themselves.
Another special addition was that the RAs (the counselors who check in on you in your dorm and lead evening recreational activities) participated in the social as well. The winner of the rock paper scissors competition was an RA named Jamilet, a third year at UCSC. She describes Playfair as “energetic, chaotic, and fun." She gave me the inside scoop regarding her victory: in order to win rock paper scissors, you need to look at the signs your opponents have played before.
In the end, after spending two hours racing back and forth across the field with our fellow classmates and RAs, some of the anxiousness melted away, laughs were shared, and more friendships were made.
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Unfortunately, upon arrival at our destination, we found that the koi pond was no longer there, and had somehow been stolen (though, how one steals a koi pond is completely beyond me). In order to make up for it, though, the RAs led us up a small detour, to a location with many stacked rocks. Previous hikers had left behind records of their visits via rocks stacked in towers of varying sizes, ranging from short, small stacks to giant piles.
“The rocks were interesting,” Katie Li of Cluster 5 said. “I’ve never seen so many little rocks stacked together. It felt very eye-opening.”
Despite the unexpected detour and the lack of an actual koi pond, the hike was still enjoyable to many of us for varying reasons. When asked about her favorite part of the hike, Dhruthi Mahesh of Cluster 11 replied that it was definitely “hanging out with my friends on the way there.” Even if the result we end up with is unexpected, there’s always something that we can find fun along the way.
By Cindy Lu
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On Monday, the first full day at COSMOS, one activity available to students was an Ice Cream Social. At this event, there were regular ice cream flavors including vanilla, chocolate, and cookies and cream. Sherbert and vegan ice cream were also provided. A large assortment of toppings, such as M&M’s and sprinkles, were also available for students to choose from. Even though the line was very long, the ice cream did not run out. Most people spent their time sitting with friends they came to the event with, so not much broad social interaction occurred. There were also some sports like spikeball, soccer, and football. Spikeball was the most popular: it had a large audience surrounding the two spikeball setups and many participants. Other people also threw around and kicked balls.
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When it was my turn to play, I was even more surprised at how much fun I had. I even managed to throw a ball! It hit an imaginary person. The game was organized in a bracket fashion, which guaranteed everyone the opportunity to experience the game twice. We topped off the night with a final, intense match between the winning student team, consisting of students from Clusters 1 through 3, and the RAs. The RAs won. On the way back to the dorms, my clustermates and I all agreed that dodgeball at STEM camp beats any other game.
By Ana Cabrera
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