The 11th annual NJIT Highlander Games kicked off to a strong start, with 24 teams competing in various events to show off their school spirit. The 4 hour event enjoyed a huge attendance where droves of NJIT students, friends, and family all came out to voice their support for the NJIT community.
The Games officially began with everyone gathering together on the green to sing the school’s alma mater. All participating teams stood in a circle and sang heartily, with onlookers joining in from atop the plateau. It was an encouraging display of affection despite the average NJIT student’s usual negativity. Thankfully, none of that attitude was present as the campus was unified in song. Once the Games started, the teams turned into the fiercest of competitors, all fighting for the grand cash prizes.
The events began with thunderous introductions of the teams. Each team performed a loud introduction in front of their cart, hyping up team members and spectators. There were fraternity and sorority chants, loud songs by teams comprised of friends and club demonstrations. Then there was my team: the SACopaths, who performed something not dissimilar to a satanic summoning ritual.
The main events were spaced 30 minutes from each other and began with the cart races. Each race had only two teams of 3 from each group, with each team racing back to back. In between rest stops, the “driver” would get out and finish donuts and water before being pushed by his teammates again. Afterwards was the caber toss, where contestants had to throw a long, thin, hollow pipe and land it a certain angle to get the most points.
During the break between events, teams danced spontaneously to the music that the DJ blasted. Also there to assist in the hype were the Mr. and Ms. NJIT winners from the night before: Pitambar Dayal and Alexandra Arnold. As an extra incentive, the directors of the Games also awarded points to the team that danced the macarena in a noteworthy fashion. So of course, other people stripped, and thus we sadly did not receive those points.
The second half of the Games featured a swatch watch, which was a pattern matching game that emphasized communication with your team. The 5-person handwriting event meanwhile focused on coordination. The last event was particularly unique. The Hungry Highlander was an event that required each team to have a bubblegum bubble blower, a human wheelbarrow, and walking planks. All these activities were strenuous, with the walking plank activity proving to be very challenging.
At the end of the event, NJIT’s very own Karen Quackenbush thanked the crowds for their support. The event was a huge success, with around 200 people participating in the event by either playing or cheering. In the end, however, despite all the spirit shown by everyone that day, there would only be a handful of winners.
The third place winners were the Sweesters. In second place was Pi Kappa Phi fraternity. Lastly, taking the crown as well as the bulk of the prize money were the Penthouse Crew, a group of friends and NJIT upperclassmen.
Also of note was the fact that the directors of the event decided to now award money to the team with the best cart. Senate promptly won with their milk-licious moo-mobile (it was a cow, obviously).
And so with great happiness did the Games end.
The Highlander Games will occur again next year as an integral part of NJIT’s annual Spirit Week, and will continue to do so as long as there are people that love the NJIT community.
Stephen Chan