The Student Activities Crew (SAC) brought Saudi tradition and Pacer pride to the Nazareth Student Center last Thursday at 9 p.m. with their annual event, Marywood Madness.

Marywood Madness was one of three events planned by SAC this week. The other two events included free henna tattoos in the Learning Commons lobby on Wednesday and the Homecoming Formal on Friday.

Originally, SAC planned for Marywood Madness to be held outdoors in the parking lot of the McGowan Center for Graduate and Professional Studies. The rainy weather forecast forced them to relocate and postpone the fire throwing performance, which was their main event, just the day before.

Instead, students filled the Arabian Nights themed Latour Room. String lights, curtains, floor pillows and a backdrop of an Arabian castle decorated the room to contribute to the theme.

The Marywood Madness menu also emphasized the Saudi theme. Students could eat chicken and veggie kabobs, pita and hummus, falafel and sweet dough balls.

The first 350 students who arrived received a free Marywood Madness t-shirt courtesy of SAC. SAC members also tossed 150 orange Marywood Madness blankets into the crowd throughout the evening.

“Apparently, last year, they were crazy about the blankets. I’m glad that we did it again this year, because they went nuts again,” said Sarah Heyne, a sophomore music education major and SAC member.

The festivities kicked off with recognizing all the athletic teams in attendance and wishing them luck in their current and upcoming seasons. Afterward, the Marywood Step, Dance and Cheer teams performed original routines for the crowd.

Following their performances, members from all three teams held a “2016 Homecoming Court” banner and formed an aisle for the homecoming court candidates to walk through after being introduced.

Senior Art Therapy Major Ashley Smith and Senior Criminal Justice Major James McAndrew ran together for homecoming queen and king.
“We’ve been dating since freshman year, so we decided it would be cool to get ourselves out there and do something different for senior year before graduation,” Smith said.

After the procession of candidates, students exited the Latour Room to cast their ballots. Between the freshmen and senior classes, 24 students ran for the positions of king, queen, princess, prince, duchess, duke, lady and lord.

Despite the last minute change, Sophomore Business Management Major and SAC member Madison Harm said she still felt satisfied with the way Marywood Madness turned out this year.

“We had a little bit of a setback because it was supposed to rain, but we had an incredible turnout,” she said. “We definitely would have ordered more t-shirts if we knew this many people would show up. The school spirit was great, and I just think it went really well.”

Hannah Moore contributed to this article.

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