ASB holds first Bennie the Eagle event

Bennie the Eagle has made his debut as part of the “games” theme implemented this year by ASB. So if you find a stuffed eagle hidden around campus, take him to the ASB room – he’s worth a free meal.

Bennie is a stuffed eagle that is hidden around campus for students to find and can be redeemed for a prize.

“Either the night before or the morning of a home football game day, we will hide the eagle somewhere on campus. Whoever finds [Bennie] brings [him] to the ASB room for a Starbucks [or In-and-Out] gift card,” ASB treasurer and junior Danielle Gould said.

Bennie is hidden on the day of each home football game.

“It was not directly related to the rally,” Gould said. “We hide Bennie prior to every football game, accomplishing two things: participation and advertisement for the game.”

According to senior and ASB member Kendall Kramer, the idea was implemented for the first time this school year.

“ASB officially started this event during preseason of football. For every home game, we have been hiding Bennie around campus for students to find,” Kramer said.

ASB decided to host this spirit event to work around the “games” theme for this year’s events, to motivate the student body, and allow students to further enjoy events hosted by ASB.

“Each year, Mrs. Cissell tries to implement a ‘theme’ to base ASB around as well as motivate ASB members and the student body. This year, the theme is ‘games,” Gould said. “It’s a simple concept that will hopefully bring a positive energy on campus. This theme is also the reason behind ASB game day.”

One difference seen by other students from this year’s eagle to the eagle of previous years is his name change. Students were surprised to see ASB’s Bennie the Eagle signs and announcements, as originally, ‘Bennie’ was known as ‘Eddie’.

“I was a bit confused as to whether the Eagle event was about Bennie the Eagle or Eddie the Eagle,” freshman Ethan Grinberg said. “One day on the morning announcements I heard Bennie, and the other day I heard Eddie, so I wasn’t really sure.”

However, ASB members assure the student body that it has always been Bennie, and previous signs labeling him as Eddie were mistakes.

“It was always Bennie the Eagle, but someone accidentally wrote Eddie the Eagle on the posters because there was a little mix up in the communication of marketing the event,” Gould said.

One thing ASB has struggled with is where to hide him.

“The thing that’s most difficult about hiding the eagle is making sure it’s in a spot where everyone is, but also hiding it where it’s not in plain sight,” Kendall said. “The goal is to try to make it easy but hard at the same time.”

ASB members have been able to successfully hide Bennie in areas convenient for students.

“One was in the planter by wood shop, which kids were literally sitting next [to] but weren’t looking for him, one was hidden in the tree by the ceramics class, another time he was hidden in the bushes in front of the E-building,” ASB Director Heidi Cissell wrote to the Talon.

ASB has put together the Bennie the Eagle spirit event not only to provide advertising for home football games, but also to increase unity as a campus.

According to freshman Daisy Calderon, they succeeded.

“I walked around campus the morning of with some friends looking for Bennie. Soon enough more and more people joined, and brought their friends,” Calderon said. “I met a lot of new people because of [Bennie], and even though we never found [him], we had a really good time.”