IWU News

Suitcase Social Sends Two IWU Students to Mystery Locale

November 30, 2004

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.—On the evening of Nov. 5, approximately 300 Illinois Wesleyan students, suitcases in hand, gathered at the Illinois Wesleyan Hansen Student Center. Told to pack for an unknown destination, the students could only hope they selected appropriate clothes for the climate. Just as planned, mystery and luck made for the excitement of this event.

Sponsored by the Residence Hall Association (RHA) at Illinois Wesleyan, the dubbed “Suitcase Social” was a creative revamping of RHA’s annual informal dance. Due to low turnouts at past dances, the organization decided to do something new to encourage student attendance. Members of RHA, which comprises two representatives from each of the 12 residence halls as well as general assembly members, worked with Alex Dorow, the National Communications Coordinator for RHA.

During the weeks preceding the social, students pre-registered for a raffle to be held at the event. The first prize was an all-expense-paid weekend getaway for two to a mysterious destination. Bags had to be packed and brought to the dance because upon the drawing, the lucky pair would be whisked away via limousine to an undisclosed locale. Other prizes included a 27-inch television, a digital camera and memory card, and a $50 gift certificate to Biaggi’s, a local restaurant.

The first –prize raffle winners were Krystyna Zwolinski, a first-year Hispanic studies major from Park Ridge, Ill., and Robyn Swink, a first-year undecided major from St. Louis. The mystery locale was none other than Walt Disney World, Florida. The limousine took them from the Hansen Student Center to the Hilton O’Hare, from where they departed the next morning for Orlando. Once in Florida, the two spent the weekend at the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Pleasure Island.

“We just love this program,” said Bridget O’Connor, a junior English and business double major from Tinley Park, Ill., and president of RHA. “We are thinking of places to send the winners next year and want to make this an annual tradition. I think it took a tremendous amount of planning, but it was well worth it.”

Due to the originality and success of the event, RHA was honored with the Program of the Year Award at the recent Great Lakes Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls (GLACURH) conference held at Ball State University. Representatives from schools throughout Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ontario selected this event as the best program presented on a college campus by an RHA within the last year. The program will now be forwarded on for competition at the national level.

In addition, a program on the Suitcase Social presented by Matthew Damschroder, director of residential life at IWU and Dorow, a junior business major with a minor in psychology, was awarded a “top-ten” honor at the conference.