By Sofia Montoya-Deck
Hood’s annual Policies for Dollars competition, where residence halls compete against each other for a $1,000 prize, bragging rights and Hood’s fabled Pink Spoon, returns Tuesday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m.
In the Policies for Dollars competition, students from each of the residence halls participate in building vs. building activities. For the final event, the residence halls come together in Hodson Auditorium to put their Hood College knowledge to the test in a Jeopardy-style trivia battle.
Students who were originally assigned to live in Memorial will be competing with the halls in which they currently reside. “Residence life staff and the senior team wanted Memorial Hall to compete as a building,” Memorial’s Head Resident Assistant Zoe Finholm said. “After we hosted the event to decorate the banner, they decided to remove Memorial Hall from the competition this year because the involvement and engagement was very low – we had one resident come.”
“Due to the students being scattered around campus, they don’t think of themselves as a Memorial resident,” Finholm explained. “They think of themselves as a Shriner resident or a Coblentz resident, so it makes sense for them to compete in that building.”
Preparation for Policies for Dollars spans many weeks, with resident assistants from each building assembling involvement from their residents as early as September. Blazer, led by Head RA Remy Anderson, began decorating their banner Sept. 26. “So far, to prepare, Blazer Hall has created our banner and done an Instagram take-over through the Happeningathood account,” Anderson said.
KayKay Redden, the head RA for Shriner, has been randomly quizzing her residents to get them excited and involved in the competition. “I think just not knowing what they will ask is the hardest part, but I think we will do fine,” she said.
Both Anderson and Redden competed in last year’s Policies for Dollars as head RAs of different buildings. “I participated last year as the head RA of Smith Hall,” Anderson said. Redden participated as the head RA of Coblentz. “Last year there were more events,” Redden said. This included decorating the lounges, designing a banner, and creating a building chant, in addition to the traditional Jeopardy game.
Policies for Dollars first began in the 1930s when upperclassmen students would quiz first-year and transfer students on Hood history. Traditionally, each hall is assigned a different color; in the ‘80s, students wore costumes instead. Finholm recalled that “One year, Coblentz was cats, Shriner was crayons and Meyran was ghosts.”
Policies for Dollars went on hiatus during the pandemic but returned in 2022. Last year, Coblentz took home the title. Blazer placed second, followed by Meyran, Shriner and Smith. According to Redden, Coblentz’s $1,000 grand prize was used to fund a catered dinner from Black Hog.
“Last year was so great,” Redden said of the Jeopardy competition. “Lots of friendly competition and trash talk. It’s nice to see everyone coming together and just having fun.”
This year’s Policies for Dollars winner will be the first to reclaim the Pink Spoon since 2015. The giant wooden spoon is repainted pink each year so that residents of the winning hall can cover it with their signatures.
With the Pink Spoon back in contention, the competition is fierce. “It’s hard to say [who will win],” Finholm said. “Smith has a very fun banner, but HRA KayKay won last year in Coblentz, so she might lead Shriner Hall to victory this year.”
Sponsored by the offices of Residence Life and Student Engagement, this year’s event also includes raffle prizes for attendees. Students will have the opportunity to win a TV, a Polaroid camera, speakers and more.
Policies for Dollars provides an opportunity for students to show off their residence hall pride. Residents should wear their hall’s designated color when representing their building at the Jeopardy competition: Blazer is pink, Coblentz is green, Meyran is black, Shriner is red and Smith is blue.
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