Resident Life: among restrictions, Super Bowl festivities find their place

Amidst a year filled with uncertainty and change for the National Football League, as well as North Idaho and the world at large, gatherings for the highly anticipated Super Bowl LV were altered compared to previous celebrations to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks. 

In place of the usual Super Bowl event held in the dorms in years past, Residence Life manager Paula Czirr hosted a pool and raffle for Super Bowl LV from 4 – 6 p.m. on Thursday night in the hall lobby to comply with COVID-19 restrictions. 

Residence Life manager Paula Czirr watches residents fill out their tickets for the Super Bowl raffle.

Residents were given tickets to put in cups that were labeled with different plays in order to predict what plays would happen in the game. In the middle of the table, residents wrote their names in randomly-chosen squares of a graph depicting the last digits of the scores of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs. They could also write in who they thought would win or what score the game would end on and put it in a raffle box.

Those who guessed correctly in these raffles won various prizes, such as gift cards and candy. Prizes were announced on the Residence Hall’s Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat during the game. 

Paula Czirr organizes the tickets given out to the residents. In her time living and working in the Residence Hall, this was the first time a Super Bowl party has not occurred. 

“Normally we have a big party, but this year my spouse and I are going to just get some fun games and snacks and watch it in our room together,” said Czirr. “It’s the first time we haven’t watched it in the theater room since we moved here.” 

Even though the residents of the dorms were not allowed to gather in the theater room, each resident had their own plan of how they would celebrate the anticipated game. 

“I’m going to watch it with my boyfriend and his roommate in their room,” said Summer Gower, a student studying education at NIC, a few days before the game.

Rhett Sandquist, a Resident Assistant in the hall, said he watched it with the other Resident Assistants in their rooms before his duty night. 

While some residents stayed in their rooms, others spent time with their families elsewhere off-campus.

“I’m going to my dad’s friend’s house in Spokane for a party with our family and friends,” said first-year student Layla Bean the night before the game.

Some students however said they weren’t that interested in the game.

“Usually I watch it, but I didn’t even know it was happening this year,” said Taryn Vanderwiel, a first-year student living in the hall. “My family is visiting Coeur d’Alene, so maybe I’ll watch it then.”

“I’m more of a European football person myself,” said Armando Tapia, a NIC soccer recruit living in the dorms. “That being said, I had hoped Tom Brady’s team wins.”