Residence hall director Marianne Warzinski was sitting at her desk on Wednesday wondering what she could do to help her residents beat the heat. 

She then came up with the idea to host a water balloon toss in the back of the Quad between Olson, Lake, Johnson and Stopher halls. About 30 students attended.

“It’s been so hot lately,” Warzinski said. “I was trying to think of a way to get everyone to cool off and I thought, ‘I have balloons that haven’t been used,’ so I filled those up and had people who were interested in the water balloon toss meet me on the Quad. It was all spontaneous and wasn’t even close to being planned.”

Warzinski said she had 300 balloons but only filled up close to 100 so the event wouldn’t get out of hand. She told the students that it wasn’t a water balloon fight, and no one could just grab the water balloons and start throwing them at random.

Her system was to have everyone grab a partner, line up across from one another and toss the balloon back and forth. One partner then took a step back each time the two people tossed the balloon back and forth. The two partners left standing were the winners.

Junior journalism major Pearline Young acted as a spectator to the event. 

“It was fun to watch and was a hot competition that cooled everyone down,” Young said.

Warzinski told the students that she didn’t want to get her hair wet, but she got drenched with balloons anyway. 

“I took into account the outfit I was wearing, and I expected to get hit with balloons, especially since I was the coordinator of the event,” Warzinski said.

Only after there were two people left standing did Warzinski declare a “free-for-all” water balloon contest.

“I think it was just what we needed to cool off on a hot September day,” she said.

Alexis Wohler is the CCI reporter for The Kent Stater. You can contact her at [email protected].