Down over at 58 Park, we love having fun. In fact, one of the best ways to describe us OC-ers might be that we are a group of outdoor-loving, wacky individuals, hell bent on having fun. How do we manage to balance our academics with all the fun we have? Well, I don’t normally make it my business to divulge OC secrets, but in this time of COVID-19 I think I’ll lay one on you for free in the hopes that it will be adapted in more friend groups across campus: we play rock-paper-scissors. A LOT. 

In our version of this classic adolescent game, participants throw down hand gestures with the losers of each round moving on to play the other losers, until there’s only one (or two) overall champion losers. These individuals then need to complete some sort of trivial, predetermined fun activity that gets house members out of their comfort zone, gives onlookers a lighthearted laugh and brings us closer together as a house and as a group of friends. 

“It’s every OC member’s dream to buckle on the house snowblades and rip down the student center stairs, dressed up as Saucer boy” explains Keziah Hoyt ’21, who felt honored to engage in the amusing pre-Titus ticket selling ritual this past spring. Logan Hagerty ’21 fondly remembers when he staged a (fake) public breakup in Dana during the dinner rush: “Being hit in the face by a piece of pepperoni pizza made me feel as if I was center stage again, lead role in my sixth grade play.”  

This semester alone, you may have seen house members carrying a canoe to class, playing bucket drums busking outside Dana or sitting outside of the gym on a couch, eating pizza, drinking soda and chainsmoking cigarettes. Current house member Gunnar Nurme ’21 explains that he had never felt so good, yet so disgusted, about himself until losing last week’s RPS challenge. “RPS gave me the opportunity to degrade my body, in front of onlookers in the gym doing the opposite, simply in the name of fun.” 

The other participant in the gym challenge, Cricket Barnes ’23, gave a similar review. “I loved the experience!” she said. “It was an enjoyable evening, fun entertainment, and a nice meal!” 

Academic life at St. Lawrence University, especially this year due to the complications of COVID19, can be stressful to say the least—and despite our engagement in outdoor recreation, it’s often the little joys in life that get us OC-ers through the semester. So just remember, the next time you see that one kid in class drinking blue liquid out of an antifreeze bottle, it’s probably just blue Gatorade and they’re probably just having a blast, giggling to themselves about what you think of their petty charade.