On Friday, Sept. 13 in Rice Commons, Saint Mary's College hosted an investigation, comedy-themed event, which aimed to uncover the “kidnapper” of Taylor Swift.
Saint Mary’s students were invited to the release party of Taylor Swift's 12th album where they used their detective skills to analyze evidence that would help uncover the suspect, ranging from John Mayer to Katy Perry. Students worked together to figure out the culprit by participating in games, one word at a time, recreating surveillance photos, guessing a passcode based on clues and drawing a composite of a suspect.
The event was part of Saint Mary's College's Smick @ Nite series. This activity-based program was started this fall to replace a previous program that garnered limited attendees and had little funding, according to director of residence life and community standards Juls White said.
“I heard from students that there was a desire to see more events and stuff on campus,” White said.
Residence Life transitioned the previous event series into Smick @ Nite to create more weekend activities on campus.
“Our biggest difference is that [the previous event series] used to be very tailored to only inviting girls from a specific hall like Holy Cross,” senior, Holy Cross Hall resident assistant Mary Bakke said. “With Smick @ Nite, we wanted to be able to put on an event by each hall but then bring in the whole campus community.”
According to White, Residence Life plans to host Smick @ Nite events for the first four weeks of the semester and halfway through the fall semester.
“The idea was to give more funding and more purpose and make it a fun, interactive thing, so people didn't have to go across the street to experience something fun, but there were some options here [at SMC],” White said.
Saint Mary's and Residence Life hosted other Smick @ Nite events earlier in the semester such as an interactive improv comedy show and glow-in-the-dark mini golf on the library green.
“I think it’s a great way to have fun and connect with new people, especially as a first-year,” freshman Natalie Arias said.
Arias mentioned that she attended the stand-up comedy night and described it as an enjoyable experience, surrounded by great company.
“There are still students who are struggling to find a community, and so if you don't know where to go or what to do, these provide kind of a low-level interaction with people and [you] don't have to worry about how to make a friend,” White said. “But I think particularly on evenings and weekends, it's important to provide some of those alternatives.”
