By Avery Walker, Copy Editor
Most Saturday mornings on campus tend to be quiet ones, as students sleep in, visit home and enjoy a slow day of rest. However, Saturday, April 25 shattered the typical weekend lull as students gathered to participate in a noble and time-honored Ouachita tradition: Tiger Traks. Declared by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders to be “Arkansas’ most exciting college weekend,” Tiger Traks is an opportunity for students to come together, raise money for student scholarships and take part in a little friendly competition.
Tiger Traks is a field-day event put on by the Ouachita Student Foundation each spring semester. True to their motto of “students helping students,” OSF uses all the proceeds from the event (the participation fees) to help students stay at Ouachita and complete their degree. As OSF’s Special Events Chair, senior Ashleigh Estes is in charge of spearheading Tiger Tunes in the fall and Tiger Traks in the spring. While this is Estes’s second year heading Traks, she has participated in the competition all four years, from participating in it as part of a team to helping run the different events.
Preparation for Tiger Traks starts long before the big day. “We usually start preparing the semester of,” Estes explained. “Our OSF workers reach out and ask different businesses to sponsor the event. Then, a month out, we work on advertising, promotion and sign-ups. This is the most difficult part, because most people don’t know what Traks is; we have to spread the word.”
This year, OSF got creative in their promotion of Tiger Traks, setting up a dunk tank in the center of campus and promising a free throw to those who signed up for a Traks team in advance. Professors, faculty and sophomore class president Ethan Shadwick was among a few of the people that students could pay to dunk. Finally, the week before sign-ups close is when the real work happens. “We prepare the OSF workers to run their games, check the equipment and make sure everything is ready for that Saturday,” Estes said.
Tiger Traks starts early Saturday morning, with team captains arriving at 8:00 and games starting at 8:30. Before the first event, all the teams gather in the Village Circle between Gosser and Tollett to check in, pick up t-shirts and participate in a cheering competition. After everyone has arrived, the teams are sent out all around campus to participate in the wide variety of events, from Tiger Trikes (a relay race on trikes) to Tiger Feast (a life-sized version of “Hungry, Hungry Hippos”). Around noon, the teams get a break for lunch and time to rest up before the grand finale: the mud pit. At the mud pit, teams participate in mud volleyball and tug-of-war. The mud pit is also the site of the closing ceremonies, where winners are announced and prizes are awarded.
Chaya Vogel, a senior worship studies major, participated in Tiger Traks for the first time this year. “I definitely wish I had done it previous years at Ouachita because it was a blast!” Vogel confessed. Reflecting upon the day, Vogel decided that the mud pit was her favorite game. “My favorite event was the mud tug-of-war because it was so extreme,” she explained. “I think I fell three times and I couldn’t stop laughing because it was so goofy to me. I was covered in mud and couldn’t grip the rope or stand up straight.”
However, Traks is not only an event but a way students can build closer relationships with one another. Vogel experienced this, as her team of worship studies majors enjoyed the day and competition together. She described her experience on her team, “Click and Tiger Traks:” “We are all worship studies majors, but different classifications, so we do a lot of life together but never anything like this. It was really sweet and fun.”
Traks is not only fun for the participants, but also for the many students that show up to watch. Dani Schager, a senior music education major, described the event from a spectator’s perspective: “There are many times here at Ouachita that life feels like a youth camp. That’s what Tiger Traks felt like to me, and in the best way! I was so surprised and impressed by how completely student-led and operated it was. And it benefits student scholarships? Truly amazing.”
Tiger Traks is more than a competition or a chance to play in the mud; it is a student-led effort that raises money for scholarships and builds community on campus. Each year, the usual sleepy Saturday is exchanged for the most exciting – and meaningful – college weekend.
