Water games and activities took over Alumni Park Friday, Sept. 9, including water guns, kiddies pools and water slides.
Though the primary goal of the evening was to get wet, or in some cases, soaked many people were able to mingle and remain dry on the sidelines and enjoy volleyball with a beach ball or a game of football, while listening to the music provided by Power 106 FM.
The event was generously hosted by the Student Programming Board and Greek Life, as the joint event held the promising hope of more collaborative events.
“The purpose of the event is to get the Greek community involved with the larger Pepperdine community,” said senior Bobby Hall, Inter-Fraternity Council president. “The event is open to everyone, not just Greeks. This is our second year teaming up with the Student Programming Board, and it is a great way to start off the school year.”
Although originally planned as a barbecue event, emergency D’Amore’s pizza was provided instead as backup. That too, however, quickly disappeared into the crowd.
“I don’t think the lack of a barbecue was a problem,” said junior Delta Gamma sorority member Lauren Herzog. “Most people didn’t even know about the food and just came for the Water Wars.”
For some other attendees however, the lack of a barbecue was a minor disappointment to say the least.
“The food was definitely going to be a plus,” freshman Carissa Heller said. “But I’m also interested to see how Greek Life can put on events and kick off the year.”
The event was strongly advertised, and Water Wars was heavily publicized as a Pepperdine community event, not just a Greek even. Yet it did act as an unofficial kickoff to the start of recruitment.
“We hope that attendees see that Greek Life is not exclusive to only the Greek community,” Hall said. “It is also a great way for incoming freshmen to hang out with the Greek community before entering rush week.”
“I came to rep the sorority,” said Delta Gamma member, junior Jamie McAleney. “It seemed like a fun Greek event; plus I came last year, too. The repetition is good.”
Although participation by those outside of Greek Life and those interested in it may have been minor, that didn’t stop those attending from enjoying the Water Wars activities themselves.
“My friends and I had a really fun time doing the obstacle courses,” Herzog said. “The people really make the event.”
The Water Wars event provided participants with the opportunity to soak their friends in more ways than one. Giant slides and obstacle course runs made competition run high, and kiddie pools were frequent locations of dumping grounds for innocent bystanders. Water balloons and water gun fights littered Alumni Park.
“The best part was definitely ganging up on friends with water guns,” McAleney said.
Although the event may not have played out entirely as hoped or imagined, excitement is still running high for Greek Recruitment week, which began on Monday with the first Panhellenic event. Fraternity recruitment begins today and sorority recruitment begins Sept. 21.
If nothing else, Water Wars provided a chance for those involved or interested in Greek life to get their feet wet for recruitment and a new year of Greek activities.