Hoopla, a weeklong event organized by the Program Board, Student Activities Center and Student Association kicked off Wednesday night at the men’s basketball game against Fordham University.
The festivities will continue until Sunday, when the women’s basketball team faces the University of Rhode Island at 2:30 p.m.
PB Chairman Seth Weinert said the goal of Hoopla is “to celebrate George Washington’s birthday, and to cheer on the men’s and women’s teams at the last few home games of the GW basketball season.”
“But more importantly the goal is to have some fun at some truly unique events,” he said.
Events range from ice skating at a regulation-sized rink at Dupont Circle rented by GW to a pie eating contest at George Washington’s birthday celebration in Kogan Plaza Thursday.
The week has been called “homecoming” in the past, but organizers changed the name because it did not fit, Weinert said.
“We realized that the events we were planning had nothing to do with what a `homecoming’ really is supposed to be,” he said. “For example, there were no events planned for alumni and alumni didn’t come back to campus.
GW’s Alumni House held Alumni Weekend in the fall that more accurately represented a “homecoming” event, Weinert said.
“Tons of alumni come back and participate in a variety of events,” he said.
Earlier in the year, Weinert met with Student Association President David Burt and Keith Betts, executive director of Alumni House, to create a plan to accommodate both current students and alumni.
“We didn’t want to abandon the concept of planning a homecoming-like event that the entire university could partake in,” Weinert said. “So PB and the SA have pledged to work closely with Alumni House staff in their efforts to plan Alumni Weekend this September.”
The result was this week’s event, called “Winter Hoopla: The Last Winter Homecoming,” Weinert said.
PB is also planning an event in place of Sunday’s previously scheduled performance by comedian Janeane Garafalo, who recently canceled the show due to last minute editing on her new movie, Weinert said. Students can receive a full refund for tickets from Ticketmaster.
“Peter Konwerski and the staff of the Student Activities Center have worked very hard to create a new event to fill Sunday night Night at the Improv,” Weinert said.
He said there will be two shows Sunday evening, at 8 and 10 p.m., with free admission and limited seating for GW students.
