Towers residents "ante up" at Casino Night

Cristina De'Armas / The Bulletin

Towers resident and junior accounting major Todd Fitzsimmons and Sophomore Criminal Delinquency major are being dealt cards from Junior History major Lucas Mitchell. The complex coordinator and resident assistants put on Casino Night for the Tower residents.

Students living in the Towers had an opportunity on Wednesday night to learn or show-off their gambling skills. Casino Night, which has occurred the last five years for Towers Residents, has become a tradition.

“It’s a traditional history for the Towers,” Jahr said. “Mainly, it’s a de-stressor for mid-terms. We always do it generally right before spring break to give those individuals who aren’t going to have anything exciting to do a bit of fun, so they can de-stress from midterms, tests, papers and just studying in general.”

Every year the theme for casino night has been St. Patrick’s Day, complete with green decorations for the entire Tower’s Lobby. The event planning started at the beginning of the semester. The programming committee was made up of resident assistants who are assigned to the committee.

“We started planning about three months ago,” said Kris Elliot, junior secondary math and psychology major who is a resident assistant and member of the planning committee. “We had bi-weekly meetings. We just go over everything that it’s going to take to put it together - from prizes to food to all of the games.”

Within the past few weeks, the Towers Complex Government held a program to help teach the students who are involved how to play different games. Games that were available were Blackjack, Roulette, Texas Hold’Em, Craps and Go Fish for the non-gamblers. TCG members also helped set up and run the games for the event.

“I helped set up my table, and I got the craps table from the alumni center,” said Jesse Hunsaker, freshman psychology major and TCG participant. “I think that the evening has been very successful, and I’ve really enjoyed everything so far.”

All ESU students were allowed to attend the event, but food was only provided for Towers Residents through a meal-plan exchange with Sodexho. Students were served chicken fingers, French fries and mocktails.

“I think it’s amazing that they provide food at a free event like this,” said Scotty Mitts, freshman music education major. “It’s pretty nice. I enjoy it. I give the strawberry mocktails two thumbs up.”

Students received tickets for different amounts based on fake money they won from playing the games. For every $25, students received one ticket. Students were then able to enter their tickets into raffles for different prizes, including an iPod shuffle, a digital camera, an ESU sweatshirt, coupons to local restaurants and businesses and other smaller prizes.

“There’s all kinds of gift cards and there’s free drinks and free shirts,” said Aubrie Piper, sophomore secondary biology education major. “Who doesn’t want an iPod or a digital camera?”

Most of the prizes awarded to students were donated from local restaurants and businesses.

“We call businesses ahead of time and ask for donations for prizes,” Elliot said. “What we don’t get donated, we have to buy, like the grand prizes.”

In addition to the raffled prizes, students were also given small gifts, like St. Patrick’s Day themed beads, cups and stress balls. Music was also provided for students to listen to while they played games. At the beginning of each semester, students who live in the residence halls are charged a Resident Hall Student Fee which helps pay for programs and events like Casino Night.

“I think that it’s a good idea to come, but people don’t take advantage of it,” said Jessica Santifer, freshman music education major. “I think that if people did know that [they paid for it] they would try to take advantage of it…it’s your money to waste by not going.”

Jahr hopes that students see how fun Resident Hall programs can be and encourages students to attend more programming events.

“We do fun stuff,” Jahr said. “If students enjoy this, they should give the individual programs that resident assistants do a chance before they just dismiss it as boring.”

Organizers said the best part of putting together Casino Night is being a part of the actual event.

“It gets stressful when you get down to the wire but…seeing all the residents here, having fun and enjoying themselves [is the best part],” Elliot said.