Written by: Nikki Simon
January 13th 2023
To start the year off right (yes, I know I'm two weeks late), I wanted to put together a little review post for Fall 2022! The last semester was an amazing one for the A.S.S.; we really started to get back into the swing of things after all of the messiness that was Covid.
The first order of business for the semester was Elections, and it was really our elections that set the tone for the next few months. We had been hard-pressed in the prior few depressing semesters to find people to fill executive roles in the A.S.S.. And yet, SO many people showed up to fall elections - we were absolutely blown away! It was a hilarious, chaotic and productive few hours, and we ended up with a great group of people - check out our Home Page to learn about our executives!
Our first public showing of last semester was, of course, Clubs Days. It's always a joy to introduce people who might not know about Archaeology to the field and answer any questions new Archaeology undergraduates might have about specific courses and topics.
After that, our first official event was our Coffee & Chill! Fall was our first semester with a specific Event Director role, and this was our Event Director Kayreen's first time planning an event as part of the A.S.S., so exciting! It was a nice icebreaker for archaeology undergraduates held in the museum and was VERY well attended. A couple of weeks had gone by at this point, so students were able to recognize other students from their classes, get together and talk about assignments or personal interests, make some new friends and get acquainted with the A.S.S. executives.
The next event was our BIGGEST event of the year, the Palaeo-Olympics! Because of Covid, the Palaeo-Olympics hadn't been run since the fall of 2019. There was very little evidence from past years to help us suss out exactly how to run the event, and many of the people who had helped to run the event in the past had graduated! So, armed with a binder, a handful of old receipts and a goal, we spent several tense and stress-filled months preparing for the event. Despite the hardships, we had a blast and really showcased our teamwork. Our resident bison and mammoth targets got a slick new coat of paint, we churned out some new
merch, and, thanks to the generous support of several local CRM agencies, the Archaeology Department and Hellenic Studies, we were able to pull together a cracking event. Mid-October, the day of the event arrived, and we couldn't have asked for a better one with the sun in the sky and 10 teams representing students, faculty, alumni and sponsors. Through a show of bug-eating prowess, cave painting artistry, spear-throwing precision (poor mammoth), and SO much more, one team came out on top taking home the coveted Feather Trophy, Inlailawatash Archaeology! This was not Inlailawatash's first Palao-Olympic win either; all of you future competitors have some truly seasoned competition! All in all, it was a great day with minimal mishaps and a super fun awards ceremony at our favourite campus pub Biercraft. We're looking forward to holding the Palaeo-Olympics again this fall, and you can bet your butts that we'll outdo ourselves!
Moving into November, we had our first movie night in YEARS. Our [Movie] Night at the Museum will surely go down in history as a supreme stroke of genius on our Events Director's part. Cozied up in the museum with our jim-jams, blankies and snacks, we began the evening with a bit of trivia about the A.S.S. executives where those who could most accurately guess all of our deepest darkest secrets were awarded prizes, because what's an A.S.S. event without prizes? After that excitement, we settled in for (you guessed it) Night at the Museum, a truly awful (amazing) movie. We laughed, we cried, we mercilessly critiqued anything and everything portrayed. It was a truly glorious night.
To round off the semester, we had our favourite event, the Meet & Greet. We love bringing faculty and undergraduates together in a non-intimidating environment to show our undergraduates that the professors really don't bite! Our professors are such kind, understanding and accommodating individuals. We always want to encourage our undergraduates to talk to their professors (or us!) if they ever have even the smallest question or concern. As is the archaeologist way, the night was a rowdy good time punctuated by drinks and trivia. Games and raffles are an essential part of the standard Meet & Greet because the Meet & Greets are where only the most amazing of prize packs can be won - in this case, Archaeology supplies, travel supplies (for those field school inclined individuals), and a basket of Archaeology related ephemera. Being the introvert I am, I left long before the party was over. Still, I hear that there will be legends told about it among Archaeology undergraduates for years to come.
And that was it; we trudged onward into the death times (exams, ugh!). So much fun, so many events and people, and it was all over in the blink of an eye. But it's 2023 now, folks, and we have big plans. Make sure you keep an eye on our socials for more fun events because we would absolutely love to see you there!
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