COLUMN: The shenanigans of Villa Maria Hall

The Beacon’s breakdown of the hall’s November events

Yet, there’s a distinctive charm to Villa Maria’s antics that keeps its residents coming back. After all, Villa Maria has historically retained upperclassmen at higher rates than most other dorms.

However, this year poses a challenge for Villa Maria’s Hall Directors, Resident Assistants (RA) and Pastoral Residents.

Last year, Villa Maria had approximately 120 residents. This year, they have 44. 

This year marks Fr. Nik Guiney’s, CSC, first year as Villa Maria hall director. Though the hall is smaller than previous years, he believes Villa Maria is living up to the camaraderie it is known for.

“It’s a sweet spot,” Guiney said. “[The residence size] is small, but everybody knows everyone, and that’s very helpful in building community.”

With enrollment down, the traditional Villa Maria hall events — which heavily rely on first-year participation — must adjust to fewer residents. It leads one to wonder: How hard is it to bring a smaller residence hall together? Has Villa Maria’s identity changed? What is it about Villa Maria that keeps residents coming back?

In search of answers, I attended Villa Maria’s November hall events. From the iconic Drum Squad to the weekly Waffle Wednesday, the hall mixes brotherhood, rivalry and tradition to foster a hall experience like no other.

Villa Maria Drum Squad

You can hear it from almost anywhere on campus. The slow banging of drums and rhythmic chants make it evidently clear: The Villa Maria Drum Squad is headed to Merlo Field again.

While the regular season was over, men's soccer hosted opponents at Merlo for the NCAA tournament this November. I attended the Nov. 23 match against Denver. 

Accompanied by the pep band, the Drum Squad made a noisy entrance — pounding their drums as they entered the packed student section. Drum Squad members wore kilts, scarves, hard hats and purple face paint to show their support for the Portland soccer team.

Senior Palmer Rakes is a Drum Squad captain. In addition to rooting for the men’s soccer team and rallying the fans, he views the Drum Squad as a way to distract visiting teams.

“We are here to be a nuisance to any unwanted visitors to Merlo,” Rakes said. “We keep Merlo a fortress and maintain its formidable reputation because it's the best pitch in college soccer.”

Rakes describes his Drum Squad experiences as “faithful merriment.”

“We stick together, rain or shine, but mostly rain, as friends, peers and brothers to support the soccer team we love.”

As I left Merlo Field, the Drum Squad was singing along to “When the Saints Go Marching In.” 

“O how I want to be in that number, when the saints go marching in,” the Villa Maria residents sang, banging on their drums and embracing the students next to them. Their voices carried all the way across campus as I walked home.

Sunday Night at the Races

If you live in the West Quad, you’ve probably seen — or heard — Villa Maria’s iconic Sunday Night at the Races (SNATR) from your window.

Since the 1990s, Villa Maria residents have gathered in the hall lobby on Sunday night to compete among one another in wing-against-wing, relay-style games, according to Guiney. The games are part of the hall’s tradition, chosen each week by the Hall Council from a book of past SNATRs.

Bobbing for apples in salt water, racing a scooter while eating Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and riding on a friend’s shoulders while trying to crack an egg taped to another resident’s chest using a dead fish — SNATR can be described in many words, but “bizarre” would be my choice.

Junior Benjamin Stephenson, who has lived in Villa Maria for three years, describes how SNATR has influenced him to stay in the hall.

“It’s not the building that keeps us around,” Stephenson said. “With SNATR, we have a lot of people willing to come together and have a good time. That’s the reason I’ve stayed. If the community wasn’t worth it, then I’d be gone.”

In past years, SNATR has had several teams representing each of Villa Maria’s hall wings. This year, due to the residence hall’s lack of students, the events only involve two teams: the first floor and the second floor.

The week’s event was the “Spider-Man” race, where residents used their arms and legs to hold themselves between the two walls as they climbed down Villa Maria’s narrow hallways. Whoever made it the farthest was declared the winner.

At 9 p.m., the teams gathered in the lobby and huddled in circles, embracing one another as they conducted their respective team chants. 

The lower floor went first and repeated their chant three times, growing louder with each iteration: “Feel the rhythm, (feel the rhythm), feel the rhyme, (feel the rhyme), let’s go boys, (let’s go boys), it’s racing time, (it’s racing time).”

By the end of the chant, the first-floor residents were jumping together and shouting their battle cry.

The second floor had less to say: “1, 2, 3, second floor, (second floor).”

Sophomore Noah Snyder was elected to represent the first floor while Stephenson represented the second. As the two competitors took turns climbing down the hall, holding their own weight for as long as they could, Villa Maria residents lined the hallways and cheered them on.

When I asked Stephenson before the race about his chances, he confidently told me that he expected to win. And he did — by a significant margin too — taking the victory for the second floor.

Pastoral Resident Fr. Tyler Kriepke, CSC, was also supporting the residents. While it is only his first year at Villa Maria, he makes a point of attending every SNATR.

“I think the word ‘shenanigans’ encapsulates SNATR well,” Kriepke said. “It's light-hearted, it's fun, it’s a little wacky and a little zany, but it brings people together.”

Clone Hero Night

You don’t need to travel to the Crystal Ballroom for a nearby concert. A much cheaper and more entertaining option is held every Thursday at 8 p.m. in the Villa Maria lobby: RA Josh Murillo’s Clone Hero Night.

“People can just pop by and ask us to play something,” Murillo said. “Fr. Tyler stopped by once and asked us, ‘Play a Rolling Stone song.’ So we played one. It’s like a free concert.”

Clone Hero is an instrument-based video game, much like Guitar Hero, but with the option of downloading and playing songs that users have uploaded.

Sophomore EJ von Jess selected tracks such as a metal remix of “Gangnam Style,” a parody of “Say Something,” with the lyrics swapped out with the words “six-seven” and the theme song to “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?”

Murillo explains that he has started to include more games throughout the night. What was initially a hall event for just Clone Hero now includes Super Smash Bros., Wii Sports and casino-style card games.

“It’s evolved to be more like a game night,” Murillo said. “We have a pretty consistent turnout, so hopefully people keep showing up.”

Waffle Wednesday

While hall staff host weekly events, senior Franz Hafner has taken it upon himself to hold his own social event as a resident on Wednesdays following the after-Mass social.

Waffle Wednesday is simple: Hafner provides the food — waffles, strawberries and syrup laid out in the Villa Maria lobby — and students can either grab a bite to eat on their way to their dorm or stay and chat with other residents.

The event started around 10 p.m. While I arrived five minutes early, Hafner was already in the kitchen preparing a batch of waffles.

“Take a waffle and enjoy,” Hafner said. “The event brings people out here to talk and play [games together] over a nice, warm snack.”

Sophomore Jacob Muñoz sees Waffle Wednesday as an opportunity to relax and spend time with other residents. Muñoz hopes to see the event continue in the coming years.

“Someone did [Waffle Wednesday] last year, and [Hafner] brought it back this year,” Muñoz said. “I hope someone picks it up next year.”

It’s true that Villa Maria has a reputation among the other residence halls: “Wacky,” “bizarre,” even a “frat house.”  Call it what you want, but something about the hall’s community keeps students like Rakes, Stephenson and Murillo coming back.

Villa Maria is more than just a residence hall. It’s a band of brothers. And being a part of that band sure looks like a lot of fun.

Brady McCracken is a News Reporter at The Beacon. He can be reached at mccracke27@up.edu

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