Housing fair ropes ‘em in

In keeping with the housing fair’s Western theme, a cowboy on stilts demonstrates how to spin plates on a stick.

5 p.m., Feb. 23, 2005--UD’s student housing fair, which was held from 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 22, in the Multipurpose Rooms of the Trabant University Center, was the most successful yet, drawing 1,682 students.

Sporting a Western theme, this year's fair featured 20 tables where students could gather information about various campus services, including transportation, FLEX accounts, facilities and the preferred tenant program.

Those who attended also could enter themselves for nine housing-related prizes, which included the grand prize of free housing and dining for the 2005-06 academic year and two giveaways each of the following: free housing for the 2005-06 academic year, free dining for the 2005-06 academic year, free housing for the 2005 fall semester and free dining for the 2005 fall semester.

The grand prize went to Kaitlin Valli, a freshman from Quincy, Mass.

According to Linda Carey, director of student housing, this year’s fair, the seventh in UD history, drew the largest turnout yet and won enthusiasm with its Western-themed attractions.

“The fair was really nicely set up,” she said. “All the housing staff wore Western attire, and YoUDee was there in its Western outfit. A lot of students came between classes and then returned for the grand prize drawing later in the afternoon.”

Besides the blue and gold kerchiefs, which were handed out as mementos to all attendees, more than 450 door prizes, which ran the gamut from stuffed animals to fleece blankets to FLEX points, were offered to random lucky winners. Students also could partake of complimentary hot dogs, popcorn, cookies, cotton candy and drinks, and a juggling cowboy on stilts gave demonstrations on how to spin plates on a stick. Students who arrived in Western garb also could get their pictures snapped by a photographer hired for the occasion, and a caricaturist captured likenesses of any student willing to trade vanity for a laugh.

A workstation with six computers also gave attendees the chance to submit their housing preferences for the coming semester while all their options were still fresh in their minds.

“The fair enabled students to gather information about various housing options before registering for the coming semester,” Carey said.

Students who register by Tuesday, March 15, are guaranteed
on-campus housing, and those with the most semesters of living on campus get the highest priority for special housing requests. These range from internationally themed clusters to community service- minded and entrepreneurial-minded units to alcohol-free buildings.

For more information on housing options, or to register for on-campus housing by the March 15 deadline, students can visit [www.udel.edu/has].

Article by Becca Hutchinson
Photo by Tyler Jacobson, AS ‘05

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