Chloe Scott

As an annual tradition, Hood College hosts “Policies for Dollars,” for freshman to show their pride and fierce competition among the residence halls. On the evening of Oct. 26, campus residents initiated the nights’ festivities with a battle on the quad.
The event entails residence halls participating in a competition for extra House Council money and the Pink Spoon. The main events for the evening included an obstacle course, chants, skits and jeopardy. With the assistance of House Council Officers, first-year students, who served as representatives, were tasked with the main duty of planning and coordination for the four main events. Each event can help the hall gain points to win.

When seeing all the excitement, and hearing the chants from students on the quad proceed through Whitaker Campus Commons, Senior Maya Gonzalez recalled her experience with “Policies for Dollars”. She was sad to say that the tradition of the event is slowly dying. “Students are losing interest, especially upperclassman who had their first experience three years ago. I don’t know why it’s dying out, but if we could revamp ‘Policies for Dollars’ for better understanding of it, we could possibly strengthen it for future first-year students,” Gonzalez said.
Director of Residence Life and Student Conduct, Matt Troutman is a newcomer to the event this year. “My first impression of ‘Policies for Dollars’ was that it sounded like an amazing student-driven program,” Troutman said. “My first couple of weeks at Hood, the students told me it was their favorite memory and tradition.” Having worked at other institutions, he commented that it is a rare blessing when students are so excited about an event, especially one affiliated with residence life and dealing with campus policies. Troutman advises House Forum, which is a group of representatives from each of the House Councils. House Forum helps to plan the program by making some decisions and communicating back with the House Councils. Before the event Troutman stated “I am looking forward to the event. I will be assisting with certain aspects such as running the Jeopardy game. I also am looking forward to observing with an eye of how we can make improvements next year, as well as just being entertained (especially with the skits).” Other faculty in attendance included President Andrea Chapdelaine, Dean Olivia White, and Chief Thurmond Maynard as judges for the event.

Although the skits provide entertainment to students, they are also meant to be a further learning experience of campus policies. The skit and jeopardy portion of Policies for Dollars, held in the Hodson Auditorium, showcases each hall’s knowledge of policies and questions pertaining to Hood College. One of the residence halls, Shriner Hall, skits consisted of a storyline with Alice and Wonderland characters. The Madhatter and Alice were roommates and he broke a lot of policies and made poor decision making. Examples of jeopardy questions include when Hood College was founded and what the myth of the Pergola is.
Shriner Hall resident Shelby Alcorn commented that “Policies for Dollars” brings everyone together. “Bringing people together is a part of what Hood is good at. I love the experience,” Alcorn said. Senior Carmelita Ugarte enjoyed watching the skits for the evening. “I usually buy a shirt to support the first-year students for Policies for Dollars,” Ugarte said. The team to take the win for the evening was Coblentz Hall.