Walking into the Ceddia Union Building (CUB) multi-purpose room on Thursday, March 26, the first thing many people saw were several rows of tables, all with different themes ranging from “Finding Nemo” to zombies. The dim lights only added to the buzz in the air as the different group members for each table bustled around, trying to get the blenders working, the ingredients sorted and the final touches on each display as the doors opened to the public.

Residence Hall Association’s (RHA) first Mocktail Mix-Off and Beer Goggle Olympics kicked off as students filed in the doors, looking to see what tables had the best mocktails. But this event was not only for the mocktails.

One of the other reasons was that the Homecoming Committee decided to announce what next year’s theme would be. Many gathered around the stage as a video came on, running through what past year’s themes had been. There was a collective cheer as the opening credits to a Marvel movie were shown, which explained that this year’s theme is superheros.

After the announcement, the focus returned to the different drinks. Many groups were anxious to see what drinks would win over the judges, but were also excited for the The People’s Choice Award, which was won by the group that raised the most money at its table. The mix-off was held to raise money for The Harbor, a local spot to help keep Shippensburg High School students off the streets and give them sober fun.

Nicole Nicholson, RHA president and this year’s homecoming queen, explained that RHA wanted to have an event to raise money for a charity, but were not sure where to start. When the RHA executive board went to a national conference, Nicholson explained that they kept hearing about other schools putting on mocktail mix-offs and wanted to try it for themselves to see how the event would turn out.

Nicholson also said that many different groups were suggested for fundraising, but once RHA heard about The Harbor, Nicholson said the group thought it would go perfectly with the Beer Goggle Olympics they had also wanted to add to the event.

The Beer Goggle Olympics was a series of challenges that included how fast a student could finished a Mario Kart race and an obstacle course in which a student had to avoid obstacles as fast as they could.

As the night came to a close, it was announced that the total amount of money raised for The Harbor was more than $300.

First place went to National Residence Hall Honorary’s (NRHH) Pacifier mocktail.

Evan Jones, a member of NRHH, explained where the inspiration for the drink came from, “I like weird things and Disney.” He was referring to the fact that the drink was inspired by the Disney TV movie “Quints.” Jones also added, “I wanted to do something off-putting.”

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