Students geared up in suspenders for the Lumberjack Ball
(-- The Beacon)
By Kathryn Walters Staff Writer walters14@up.edu
Picture a lumberjack. Does a big, strong burly man like the Bounty paper towels mascot come to mind? Throw in some college students, dubstep, and glow sticks, and you've got a recipe for the Villa Maria Hall Lumberjack Ball.
On Sept. 30 from 10 p.m. to midnight, Villa Maria Hall hosted its own dance in lieu of a homecoming dance on the basketball court behind the dorm. According to sophomore and Villa Maria Hall Council member Kevin Conley, about 250 students attended throughout the course of the evening.
The Lumberjack theme of the ball matched Villa Maria Hall's dorm theme this year.
"Lumberjacks are pretty manly, and Villa is all about being manly," Conley said.
The Lumberjack Ball was a free event, but donations were welcomed in an attempt to raise funds for Villa Maria Hall's dilapidated game room. The ball brought in $204.08 by the end of the evening, and Physical Plant will help with the repairs.
"We've made it our priority to make the game room a bigger part of Villa's community," Conley said.
Conley said that the money raised was a good start for the repairs.
"The carpet's all ruined, the walls are peeling, almost everything in there is broken and there's no ventilation, so we have a lot of work ahead of us," he said.
There was no required dress code for the Lumberjack Ball, although typical lumberjack gear such as flannel shirts and jeans were recommended. The first 100 people to arrive within the first 15 minutes received free glow sticks. Sophomore Jordan Jones, who was voted "Villa's Greatest DJ" according to Conley, provided the music with a mix of Top 40 hits and his own combination of techno and dubstep beats.
Overall, the lumberjack theme was a hit for those who attended. Sophomore Em Wooden loved the unofficial lumberjack dress code.
"I loved that everyone wore flannel," she said. "It was hilarious."
Sophomore Danielle Crain also enjoyed that the flannel theme.
"I thought it went well with Villa," she said. "I thought it was a good theme because it is Portland."
However, the music mix at the Lumberjack Ball, which relied heavily on dubstep influences, left some people divided in opinion.
"There were lots of stretches where you didn't really know how to dance," Wooden said, but she said she enjoyed the disk jockey's selection overall.
Crain said the DJ did a good job with his selections and she had a good time.
"It looked like people were enjoying it," she said. "I was excited to see that so many people went."
(-- The Beacon)
