Students walking around on campus this past Friday night may have noticed the lights on Miller Fields shining later than usual, with a sprawling setup of tents clustered in the middle of the field, alongside Spikeball nets and giant Jenga towers. With clear skies and only a slight chill in the air, it was the perfect time to hold this year’s Campout.
Campout 2018, hosted on Oct. 19, was a continuation of a campus tradition founded in the 1980s. Hosted by Student Government, it takes place annually and typically lines up with the start of the basketball season. In the event, students spent a night on Miller Fields, with many campus organizations helping to host a variety of events throughout the night. Each of these activities, from karaoke to a late-night breakfast, was part of a planning process that spans months prior to the event.
Abby Verchick, a fourth-year studying human biology and the Director of Traditions for Student Government, spoke about the initial planning for the event.
“We started talking about planning [Campout] last April,” Verchick said. “But we really started to begin organizing it in July, where we worked out T-shirt designs and just tried to work out as much as we could in advance.”
Setup for Campout started at noon on Friday, with students looking to participate in the event coming in to set up their tents later that evening. Though it may have been the first time many attendees had camped out, others are more familiar with the setup.
Brian Smith, a second-year studying accounting, attended the event and spoke about his previous camping experience.
“I’m an Eagle Scout, so I’ve done a lot of camping before,” Smith said. “Here, it’s a bit more collected, there are more people in one spot and a whole bunch of organized events, which were a lot of fun.”
A number of NC State’s hall and residence area councils helped to set up and host activities for the event, including councils from Lee Hall, Wolf Ridge and Metcalf, among others. The activities hosted by the hall and area councils ranged from Spikeball games and Frisbee tossing lanes to a campfire for roasting marshmallows over. The University Performance Programs and the campus Amazon.com representative. were also present at the event.
Christian Wade, a first-year studying livestock and poultry management, was also at the event.
“I think it’s a great event,” Wade said. “It’s a perfect way to get out of your comfort zone and get to know your friends.”
The Primetime with the Pack event was also hosted alongside Campout, with many students who were at Campout, including Smith, attending the Primetime event as well.
“They were showing off all of this year’s players to help kick off this year’s basketball season,” Smith said. “They also had some friendly competitions between the players, like 3-point shooting, dunking and skill challenges.”
Students who attended Campout earned six loyalty points for student ticket lotteries, which Tess Wiegmann, a second-year studying graphic design who worked at the event as part of the IRC, elaborated on.
“The loyalty points are for sports,” Wiegmann said. “They help your chances of getting tickets in the future, for upcoming basketball games and such.”
All in all, the event stands as a major NC State tradition. Verchick spoke about why campus traditions are ultimately important.
“I think [campus] traditions are something that bring us all together,” Verchick said. “It connects us with our past, with all the alumni who have come before us and connects all of the current students together. It’s a way to get students excited about NC State, there’s a sense of commonality and unity when everyone is working toward something bigger than themselves, and I think a great way to do that is through our traditions.”
Though this year’s Campout has concluded, many are looking forward to the basketball season ahead, while others also patiently await next year’s iteration of the event.
