Root beer kegger

A favorite of IIT InterVarsity students is a kegger we host during a popular school-sponsored freshmen activity—a root beer kegger, that is. This last time we bought a keg of root beer (we now recommend two!) and a lot of ice cream. Through an efficient and fun assembly line, we made root beer floats for the 200 or so freshmen as they participated in the orientation activity. It was an excellent publicity event and a fun way to serve the campus.

Jazz Music

Chicago’s annual Jazz Fest falls right in the middle of NSO at IIT, so we took advantage of a fun, free festival and organized students, new and old, to come along and see more of the city. We took the train and enjoyed some good jazz music in a relaxed atmosphere conducive to conversations. We topped off the evening with pizza at one of the pizza places in the city. Our I-V chapter picked up the tab, and we got to know a number of freshmen by having a longer event that made students commit to each other for the evening instead of taking off after five or ten minutes.

Pizza Taste-off

An annual event at IIT, our I-V chapter took advantage of being in the city with the best pizza. We held a pizza taste-off, in which students were invited to try pizza from four of the best pizza places in Chicago. The pizzas were donated by the pizzerias and the results of the vote were posted on our I-V web site. The allure of free pizza drew in students from all over the campus, and the laid-back atmosphere of sitting and eating promoted good conversations between I-V students and pizza tasters.

Trash on the beach

We wanted to start off the year by serving the community surrounding our campus at IIT in Chicago, so we held a beach cleanup on a Saturday morning a few weeks into the semester. Our school is located in an impoverished neighborhood in the middle of housing projects, and there is much work to do in our neighborhood. Picking up trash on Lake Michigan’s beach just down the street was a good place to begin. After the cleanup, we had a BBQ on the beach and a quick dip in the lake. This event was a great way to get to know some of the new students who had been coming to I-V for the first few weeks—you’d be surprised how much bonding can occur while picking up trash!