Dorm Wars promises fun now, service later

The hype has started. The practices are scheduled. A countdown reminder has been heard in the cafeteria. 

Teams from across campus will converge in Walker Arena for Dorm Wars on Monday for a night of friendly competition between men and women's residence halls.

Carmen Lastoria, director of alumni relations, has been the host of the event for years. He recalls how Dorm Wars has always been a campus wide event to look forward to. 

“It is a competition between the residence halls on campus, and they compete in various different events. You get points for how quickly you can get through the obstacle course and the many tasks,” Lastoria said. “I remember being a student participating, and it was this great event. It was awesome. The crowd was energized." 

Lastoria has transitioned from student to alumnus to Lee staff and his role at Dorm Wars has evolved as well.

 “I've also had the opportunity to host it the last couple of years, which has been really cool as well because I think it is one of the best on campus events we have all year,” he said.  

Lastoria also discusses the purpose of this event and how it brings the community of students together. 

 “I think Dorm Wars are twofold. It's a fun competition and a great way to build camaraderie in your dorm. Even if you're not competing as an athlete in the events, every residence hall comes, cheers, and everybody's supporting one another,” Lastoria said.

Rylee Hensley, theology bivocational major with communications, was an RA for last year's winning dorm, Atkins Ellis. Hensley explains the process of preparing for Dorm Wars and the experience surrounding it. 

“As an RA, you start off prepping for Dorm Wars in August during training. At that point, we had to come up with our idea and then start getting into our teams,” Hensley said. “There's different teams that everybody is on, there's: coaches, decor and intro dance. We got into those teams, and had to plan out some of the dates to have practices or decor nights.”

This planning is not limited to practices and decorations. Hensley notes the community involvement and its implications after a win. 

“Putting in all that hard work, so many late nights, but winning and seeing that it all paid off, and seeing that residents were having so much fun and riding that high of winning, that was the best part. I think that's all I needed,” Hensley said.

While most aspects of Dorm Wars remain unchanged, the fundraising aspect will look different for this year’s teams.

“This year we're not fundraising to give money to organizations,” said Chris Gates, executive director of Student Life. “What we're going to do is create events where students can go and consistently serve throughout the whole school year for the organizations of the winning dorm.”

Gates believes this will be a positive alternative, involving service hours and helping the community in a different way. 

“Instead of blessing them with money, we're going to try to bless them with volunteers,time and energy, which will be meaningful, because that aligns with our institutional values and gives students opportunities to earn service hours, and build community when [they] serve together,” Gates said.

On Monday Oct. 6, Lee University’s annual dorm wars will be held in the Walker Area at 7 p.m.