On November 5, Founders Hall put on their full-building event, Around Founders. The theme this year was “Flashback Founders, Founders Through the Ages.” Each of the halls chose a different theme based on different eras of history and decorated their hallway to create a walk-through experience for the campus.
Upon entering Founders Third Lobby that night, students were met with different screens
with favorite movies playing (“Star Wars,” “Singing In the Rain,” etc). After waiting in line for a while, the students entered Ekklesia Hall, escorted by one of the hall members. The theme for Ekklesia was the “Eras of Taylor Swift.” The different hall members were dressed up as the different eras of Taylor Swift, showcasing the change in her music and style. RA Casen Bailey could be seen in a red scarf and long wig, clutching a cardboard steering wheel and saying, “all too well,” over and over.
After Ekklesia, students entered Brethren Hall, where they were taken through the story of the Space Race. The final scene featured the filming of the “faked” moon landing, complete with actors, a moody director and set crew. After Brethren, students entered into the beautiful palace of Versailles recreated in Balcony Hall. There was beautiful music, gorgeous dresses and delicious cake in the aristocratic area … but as students walked down the hallway, they entered the barricade of the French Revolution. Cries of “down with the monarchy!” “Viva La France!” rang out.
After beautiful France, students entered Jungle Hall - “Welcome to Sicily!” - and the outbreak of the Black Plague. The hall was dark, and the hall members, dressed as victims of the plague, cried out as students passed down the hallway. After passing through the final room of Jungle, which was designed to be a graveyard, students moved into Catacombs Hall. Catacombs was designed to be King Tut’s Tomb. As students walked through, the legendary curse became more and more apparent, as a spiked trap swung out to attack them, explorers fought violently, and a tent was in shambles.
The final two halls students passed through were First Belz and Jubilee. First Belz was decked out as Ancient Rome, complete with an exploding volcano and a gladiator fight at the end. Jubilee was themed “Notable Women in Film,” with different eras in film portrayed along the way including “Singin’ In the Rain,” complete with squirt guns of water, and “The Wizard of Oz,” both in black-and-white and in technicolor.
After the guests finished going through the halls, they were encouraged to vote for the hall they thought did the best. Faculty judges also walked through and determined the first, second and third place. Balcony won both First Place and People’s Choice, while Ekklesia won Second Place, and Jubilee won Third Place.
All the halls had a wonderful time working together in order to create a fun night for the rest of campus. Bella Vivanco ‘25, one of the RAs of Jungle, said about the experience of Around Founders, “It was super fun! Different than I thought it would be. We put a lot of work in, but we didn’t win, which was okay and expected since it was both my and Jordan’s (and the 12 freshmen) first time putting this on. Cleaning up was so fun and took us 30 minutes to tear down 10 hours of blood, sweat, and tears to some pop music a hall-mate put on to jam to as we ripped the walls down.” R.J. Bascom ‘25, said of his experience, “Around Founders is a beautiful expression of hall unity and building diversity. I loved watching everyone’s creative expression and contagious energy! This is definitely one of my favorite campus events. I’m already looking forward to next year’s Around Founders and another chance at first place!”
All in all, Around Founders was an awesome way for the halls in Founders to showcase their creativity and put on a fun, immersive experience for the rest of campus.