Rowan After Hours (RAH) hosted its annual $1,000 Stars and Stripes Bingo night, co-sponsored by University Military Services and Rowan’s Army ROTC in honor of Veterans Day. Students could be seen lining up all the way to the second floor of the Student Center, excited to compete and win one of the many military and Rowan-themed prizes. 

“This event is near to my heart because I had family members that served in the military and some extremely close to me [are] getting ready to serve in active duty so being able to show my support to veterans and the military is something I’m excited to do,” Julia Versace, a student in attendance, said. 

Students that were itching for an increased chance to win some of the awesome prizes, such as the infinity gauntlet, had a chance to do so by bringing in a canned food item for the food drive. If they served in the military, they had a chance to show their military ID for an extra bingo board. 

Eve Li, the grad coordinator for Rowan After Hours, sat down amidst all the excitement to discuss the intricacies of the event.

Can we get a behind-the-scenes look into what goes into planning a bingo event? 

So for Bingo, we have committees. We have the Programming committee, which is constituted by our coordinator and some students to pick out the prizes for the bingo night. We also have our Army ROTC tonight as our co-sponsorship and they’re able to help facilitate the entire event together.

Okay, so I noticed this one is called Stars and Stripes Bingo, can you tell us a little bit about why it is the Stars and Stripes tonight not regular bingo?

We usually have the Stars and Stripes as one of the annual bingo events, and it also happens around November which was closer to Veteran’s Day. So, we’re able to help our co-sponsor and help celebrate this special day with whoever is affiliated with the military.

How do you feel about the turnout tonight? What do you expect from tonight?

We always have people lined up waiting in line before we even open our doors because bingo is such a very popular event for all-natural hours. So, I think tonight turned out really good and we have really amazing prizes waiting for everybody.

What goes into your decision on what prizes to get for students?

Usually, [for] each prize, we try to make it as close to the theme as possible. Some of our co-sponsor[s] provided military-related prizes as well. We also have our Rowan blanket as our grand prize since it’s usually because they’re very popular.

What are some of the prizes we can expect tonight?

We do have our usual swag packs as one of our mini-game prizes for everybody to interact and participate and we have, as usual, the Rowan blanket which is very popular. We have some American flag-themed apparel and blanket and just like very comfortable stuff.

While this was the last bingo event for the semester, students can expect RAH to come back with exciting bingo events in time for the 2023 spring semester. However, if students are too anxious to wait for a RAH bingo event, students can attend other events hosted by RAH on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9 p.m. to 1 p.m.

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