Last week, the Student Activities Council hosted the 21st annual “Shocktoberfest,” an annual event to celebrate Shocker spirit and pride.

Shocktoberfest was held from Oct. 22 to Oct. 29, culminating with Songfest, a lip synching and dancing contest that concludes the event, as well as the sight of the awards ceremony for winners of Shocktoberfest events. 

“Shoctoberfest went really well this year other than the weather during the mud events,” Elisa Acosta, the Campus Traditions Chair for SAC, said. “We had a lot of participation this year, including several new groups.”

One such Shoctoberfest event that occurred was the Dooms Day event, held Oct. 25. Madison Johnson, who coordinated the Dooms Day dash team for Delta Gamma, described the Dooms Day event as simply a relay for a four-person team.

Johnson said the Dooms Day event included a bunny hop, crab walk, two drunk goggle activities and a relay where participants had to balance an egg on a spoon held by their mouth. Delta Gamma won the Dooms Day event.

“I was really excited when we won,” Johnson said. “We only had one team this year since it was hard to get participation because it was held during the middle of the day. It really did us favors for getting points for Shocktoberfest.”

Another event was the Man and Woman of the Year. Acosta said the Man and Woman of the Year was a way for SAC to have an event similar to a Homecoming crowning after football was eliminated from the university in 1986.

Acosta said anyone can nominate a student for getting the Man or Woman of the Year award. She also said SAC is taking measures to try and allow members of their organization to be nominated for the awards beginning next year.

“Since we sponsor the event, SAC members can’t be nominated for the awards,” she said. “We are hoping to change it to include a new leadership umbrella that is student involvement to allow SAC members to be able to apply for the awards, hopefully by next year.”

Sarah Thompson of Delta Gamma was one of four finalists for the Woman of the Year award. She said she was surprised she was nominated because she thought it was an award only for seniors, and she is a junior.

On Saturday night, Oct. 27, the winners of the Man and Woman of the Year award were announced. Thompson was announced the winner.

“I was extremely surprised when I won,” Thompson said. “The other three finalists are great girls who do great things for the campus, so it was an honor for me to win.”

Shocktoberfest concluded with Songfest on Monday night. The main event that took place aside from the awards ceremony was the singing and dancing contest. 

Acosta said each group had to cut down their music for their show to five minutes or less, and that usually the music and dancing goes along with the theme of Shocktoberfest, this year’s being “Final Countdown.”

“We had some excellent performances this year,” Acosta said.

Delta Gamma won the dance contest at Songfest, and eventually learned they won the overall Shocktoberfest activities.

“I was screaming when I found out that we won,” Johnson said. “There were times when some of us were asking ourselves ‘Why are we doing this? What’s the point of all of this?’ But once we saw all of our hard work pay off, it was an amazing feeling.”

Acosta said overall she thinks Shocktoberfest was a success this year.

“We had a much bigger turnout this year,” she said. “We moved Songfest to Wilner Hall this year, and we will have to upgrade even from there because so many people were into it this year, and wanted to see the final results of the events. Shocktoberfest always highlights my semester.”