(Photo by Nucleus Yearbook)
On Tuesday, Nov. 22, NJIT’s chapter of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, known as the professional engineering association IEEE, hosted a flag football event. This was held in conjunction with the Women in Computing Society, the Association for Computing Machinery, NJIT’s Filipinos in Newark Engaging in Sociocultural Traditions, the Student Senate, and the Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society.
The event took place on the soccer field in front of the Wellness and Events Center, with the organizations also utilizing the nearby fire pit as an area to serve food and drinks. Attendees had the options of playing flag football themselves, cheering for teams of other attendees, or spending time by the bonfire while having refreshments.
“One of the main motivations behind this event was the lack of a football team at NJIT,” said IEEE director of public relations Nakul Kochar, fourth-year computer engineering major. He explained that in high school, a common bonding experience for students is to attend local games on Friday nights while enjoying food and developing school spirit. However, they may not have this chance as college students.
“When fast-forwarding to college, many students still have that opportunity at other universities, but not at NJIT,” he added. “We decided we wanted to bring that excitement here so that students could get the opportunity to not only play, but observe the game and overall, have a great time.”
In traditional American football, one team tries to get the ball into the endzone, or goal, while running and throwing the ball to teammates. Meanwhile, the other team attempts to stop them by tackling the player with the ball. Flag football differs because each player wears a belt with detachable tags; instead of tackling players to the ground, opposing teams merely have to pull off one of the tags.
This safer version of the game proved to be quite popular in its own right; the event recorded over 300 attendees, with some deciding to play the two-hand touch variation as well. IEEE events coordinator Karina Tay, second-year electrical engineering major, commented, “It was nice to see everyone enjoying themselves after exams, especially because a lot of work was put into it.”
“The event was right before Thanksgiving break,” she continued, “and so it was good timing for students to start relaxing before some days off.” Although IEEE is known for study events helping engineering students, the organization has many other events planned for Spring 2023. These. These include another football or soccer event, a bonfire, a hardware product sprint, company-sponsored gatherings, a LinkedIn workshop, an IEEE Casino Night, and many more.
To keep up with more of these occasions, follow IEEE on their Instagram page @ieee_njit or on their Highlander Hub page, https://njit.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/ieee.
