On Sept. 9 at 8:30 p.m., Andrews University hosted its annual The David Faehner Almost Anything Goes event (formerly known as Almost Anything Goes). Students and faculty gathered in Johnson Gym to participate in a long-standing tradition that has continued for forty years, with the only pause occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tradition was started by former Andrews faculty member David Faehner, and this year, the Office of Student Involvement, Leadership, and Activities used special branding to connect the games with the continuing 150th-anniversary celebrations. The AU agenda and social media posts stylized the event as “AUlmost Anything Goes,” and the quiz activity featured Andrews-themed trivia. Alumni were also invited to participate.
Although advertising an 8:30 p.m. start time, the event did not kick off until closer to 9:00 p.m. First, attendees were given tickets for a raffle that would be held later in the evening. Following this, Dean Darius Bridges and Chaplain José Bourget opened the evening with a general welcome and announcements.
After opening prayer, the different classes were introduced along with the scoring system. The freshman represented their class by wearing green, while the sophomores wore blue. Juniors and seniors were combined into one group and boasted red colors. The last team announced were the graduate students, who showed their class spirit in yellow clothing. According to the rules, winning first place in an activity would result in ten points for the team, while second place earned seven points, third place earned five, and fourth place earned three.
The first game of the evening was the “Twist and Shout Hula Hoop.” Each team selected two representatives to participate on behalf of all team members. At first, all participants began hula hooping like normal. However, the expectations gradually increased in difficulty as participants were asked to perform tasks of increasing difficulty such as standing on one foot, moving five steps back, or hopping in place, all without pausing the motion of the hula hoop. The sophomores started out with a strong lead after this event, winning first place.
Next in the lineup of activities was “Rally the Troops Ping Pong,” which required full team effort. Teams lay on their stomachs in two rows facing each other. Then, they propelled a ping pong ball between the two rows to a set end point by blowing air at it. After hard effort, the juniors and seniors earned first place in this event.
The third game was the “Balloon Bonanza Giant Balloon.” Multiple large hoops were tied to the ceiling; team members sat on the gym floor under their designated hoop. The goal of the game was to hit giant balloons through the hoop as many times as possible. Each team had a couple of white balloons in addition to several balloons matching their team color. When white balloons passed through the hoop, more points were awarded than when the colored balloons flew through. For the first portion of the game, all participants were seated on the floor. They were only allowed to stand partly through the game when the signal was given. Once again, the sophomores scored first place.
The rest of the evening included several popular games, starting with an AU classic, the “Mattress Race.” This special activity ended in a tie between the sophomores and the freshmen. Following this unique event, there was a break for the announcement of raffle winners. Several lucky attendees were gifted Andy the Cardinal squishmallows to remember the special evening.
After the raffle, the fifth event began. The “Taylor Toss,” or cornhole toss, ended in another tie, this time between the sophomores and the juniors and seniors. The next event, “Pulling Your Weight” tug-of-war, required team coordination and physical strength and took place in two stages. The first two rounds took place to determine which teams would face off later. After this physically demanding game, another raffle was held to provide a break. This was followed by an Andrews University-themed Kahoot that included questions about a wide range of AU history from the year of Andrews beginning to the name of the women’s residence hall. After this short break from physical exertion, the final two rounds of tug-of-war commenced.
The final tug-of-war set finished off the activities for the night. To officially close the evening, the final scores were announced and special feats of notes were highlighted. One rare accomplishment was that the graduate students made history with their first second place win in tug-of-war. Dean Bridges also announced that the sophomore class won Almost Anything Goes for the first time in the event’s history. The freshmen came in second, also achieving a rare accomplishment by becoming the second freshman class to do so. Taking third place was the junior and senior team, while the graduate team finished fourth. With another Almost Anything Goes logged in the books, the event made history in an already historical year for Andrews.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.