Ski and Snowboard Club hosts snowball fight on Blanket Hill

Savana Capp and Leah Shepard|January 23, 2023

Anthony Scilla

Kent State student Edward Miller VI of throws a snowball that falls apart as it flies during the annual snowball fight behind Taylor Hall on Jan. 22, 2023.

More than 200 Kent State students took to the bottom of Blanket Hill Sunday evening for the annual snowball fight organized by the Kent State Ski and Snowboard Club, complete with an impromptu wrestling competition.

The snowball fight, which began at 8:00 p.m., was the second of its kind organized by the ski club, said Gianni Weaver, vice president of the club.

Kent State’s chapter of ski club has over 400 members and accepts anyone–even those who don’t ski or snowboard, Weaver said. This event was a way to promote their club while also encouraging students to have fun, he said.

“We just want all of Kent State to come out and play in the snow,” Weaver said. “We’re adults, but we just want to come out here, have fun, and throw some snow at each other.”

A participant of the Ski Club snowball fight rides atop the body of a giant snowball as others work to roll it across the Commons on Jan. 22, 2023. (Annemarie Karabinus)

Participants at the event said they enjoyed it and it was a nice addition to the first week of the semester.

“It’s just a fun experience for everyone to come together and have a little fun in the snow,” said Olivia Asp, freshman visual communication design major. “It’s just something kind of wacky and fun. It mixes up the normalness of the second semester.”

Asp had plans to enjoy the snow with friends from her campus church, H2O, when they heard about the snowball fight.

“I was just trying to get some friends to come out here and then I heard that some snowballs were being thrown,” said Kamron Forshew, sophomore psychology major.

Forshew, who arrived with Asp, said he thinks the snowball fight was a good distraction from the usual stress of the semester.

“We all do a bunch of studying the whole semester,” he said. “We just want to get to know some people, have some fun, take a break.”

Prior to the snowball fight, students also constructed a seven-foot tall snowman they affectionately named “Todd,” said Forshew.

Participants in the annual snow ball fight work to make a giant snowman. The snowman’s body was rolled across the Commons toward the Victory Bell. (Annemarie Karabinus)

After nearly a half hour of throwing snowballs, the students convened in a large circle where the ski club organized an impromptu wrestling competition. Students volunteered to wrestle and were monitored by another ski club member, who acted as referee.

Weaver said the event was organized by the ski club’s E-board only three hours in advance due to the rapid onset of the snowfall Sunday.

“We’re talking about maybe Wednesday having another one,” Weaver said. “A part two, maybe get more people.”

Savana Capp and Leah Shepard are reporters, contact them at [email protected] and [email protected].