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SPORTS

The Norwich Guidon
Feb. 26, 2004

New extreme sledding draws student athletes to Winter Carnival event

By Adrian Ackles
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer
(Whaley photos)

Winter Carnival is not what most people would think of for a carnival. It has no rides and no funny people trying to sell novelty trinkets. It is, however, a series of events that take place during February for the Norwich community.

Chan Stowell, Student Activities Director, is always looking for events to get every student involved.

"There were a lot of mixed feelings on the Winter Carnival," Stowell said. "There weren't many students on campus; with less students on campus, it was harder to plan events."

Even with the lower number of students who were on campus, only a handful participated in planning the events, Stowell said.

"Because of lack of participation, less things are going to be planned," Stowell said. "I think we plan too many events."

Sophomore Eric Punzalan was one student who did not leave during that weekend. Punzalan was involved in the Winter Carnival last year, building a snow sculpture as most freshmen corps members do.

"I need a more adrenaline-intense event," said Punzalan, 19, an architecture major, from Vallejo Calif. "After a while, you get bored with schoolwork; you just have to get out and do something."

Punzalan and a handful of students, mostly architecture majors, decided to get more involved with the Winter Carnival by making an extreme sledding event.

Ted Mikulski, a sophomore architect from Rocky Hill, Conn., was the person who made the executive decision on starting the event.

"Basically, a couple people came up with it in our studio, but I started to get it going, and got it approved by the school," said Mikulski, who has been known around campus to be involved in many different events such as the jousting event last year and the civilian snow sculpture this year. Mikulski had to go to Stowell to get the event approved, however.

"Like all other activities at Winter Carnival, [the students] have to come to the Winter Carnival committee and speak of what their plans were," Stowell said.

The main concern with this event wasn't if it would get the attention of the people on campus, but rather safety issues.

"It took a while to get it approved, because people were getting hurt from sledding earlier in the year," Mikulski said. If a student were to be harmed during any event held by the school, the university's insurance company could shut down the entire carnival, Stowell said.

To assure the safety of the students, Stowell made sure that there were safety personnel there.

"We pay EMT [Emergency Medical Team] guys from our student programs for the whole weekend at all of the activities, just in case," Stowell said.

The events included a couple of downhill races and a long jump for which the participants made their own sleds.

"They were all different," Punzalan said. "Some are made out of innertubes and cardboard, but anything goes."

In all of the events Punzalan was victorious, and his prize was bragging rights.

"This was fun! You can't prepare for that; no one can," Punzalan said.

There were approximately 15 students involved in the activity, and no one was hurt, with the exception of "a couple of bruises," Mikulski said.

Despite the number of students who left during the weekend of Winter Carnival, Stowell said that the extreme sledding event was a great addition to the schedule.

The Norwich Guidon is a twice-monthly student newspaper distributed at Norwich University. It provides laboratory experience for students in the Communications program. Claims asserted by letter writers, editorials and other articles do not represent the positions of Norwich University. The Norwich Guidon welcomes signed letters to the editor. They should be no longer than 300 words. Unsigned letters will not be printed, but names may be withheld upon worthy request. All letters are subject to editing for length and good taste. Mailing address: The Norwich Guidon, Communications Center, Norwich University, Northfield, VT 056632. www.norwich.edu/guidon. If you have any questions or comments about the paper, please contact Professor Ken Bush at kbush@norwich.edu.