As both the event organizers and eventual winners, Together We All Prosper (TWAP) house certainly had the odds in their favor during the first annual TWAPathon.
From 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Chapel Field on April 20, a number of theme houses at Wheaton competed as teams in a sack race, relay race, round of charades, trivia, pudding eating contest and a dance contest.
While the Hungry Lyons team came in second and the Whole Wheaton house team came in third, the real winners were the charities, as each house raised money for to be donated if they won.
The houses that participated and the charities they chose for the potential winners were TWAP house (charity: Head Start), Peace and World Consciousness House (charity: Peace First), Outdoors Education House (charity: the Sierra Club), ECCO House (charity: Crystal Spring Earth Learning Center), Whole Wheaton House (charity: the National Abortion Access Society, and the Hungry Lyons House (charity: The Greater Boston Food Bank).
Some houses had multiple teams participate, those being Twappity Twappity Twap and TWAP Stars from TWAP house and Team Peace and Team World Consciousness from Peace house.
Tyrek Greene’15, a member of TWAP house, came up with the event. Greene’s original idea for the TWAPathon was to have an in-house competition of athletic events inspired by the Hunger Games.
However, the premise soon grew to include other houses. After Greene contacted the other houses, he and the other event planner decided to have the winner donate money to charity. The houses raised money through resident donations as well as donations from the audience.
The event not only was a success for the charities involved, but also for everyone present.
Calou Beckford ’13, the president of TWAP house, said his favorite part was “seeing people come out of their comfort zone and have a good time.”
Another benefit of the event was that the theme houses on campus got to bond. Dylan Hillman ’14, a resident of Outdoors house said his favorite part was “getting to see all the other houses.”
The audience members especially had a fun time. “My favorite part was the trivia,” said Sarah Estrela ’15, a member of the audience.
TWAPathon is one of many events the newly made TWAP house has hosted this year. These events include the “Past, Present and Future” series wherein professors and other faculty are interviewed by audience members about challenges men in the twenty-first century face. Past speakers have included President Ronald Crutcher and Dean Alex Vasquez. TWAP has also held open mike nights.
The lack of outlets for developing men’s identities on campus inspired Calou Beckford ’13 and Chris Bittner ’13 to create TWAP house. Greene also noted the difficulties for men at Wheaton, stemming from the 36/64 male-to-female ratio on campus.
“[A] woman’s cycle through hell is different than a guy’s,” said Greene. “[There are] not enough men here to teach the boys how to be men.”
TWAP house hopes to host events in the future that bring awareness to this issue as well as events just for fun. Speaking of the future, Beckford predicted the future winner of TWAPathon.
“I knew it was going to happen,” said Beckford on TWAP house’s win.