It was a night filled with entertainment as far as the eye could see. There were belly dancers, inflatable obstacle courses, ring tossing games and so much more. With about one thousand guests, the Residence Hall Association Block Party at the SAC on Sept. 4 2009, was deemed a success.

It’s a yearly event that we have for every kind of student,’ SBU Communications Coordinator, Colin Bedell, said. ‘-from commuters to the residents on campus.’ Bedell, who is a junior at SBU, also said that the most popular game of the night was the inflatable obstacle course.

The block party has been an annual event since 2006, and was deemed successful by Bedell.

‘The free food gets a lot of people to come,’ he said. ‘We’ve been giving out free prizes all night too, such as free t-shirts, tattoos, whoopee cushions, Frisbees, balloons and the photo booth was a really popular station as well.’

Seniors, Tionne Lovelace and Crystal Hamilton, were enjoying the night by eating popcorn and dancing to the music that blasted through the speakers.

‘I really like the fact that there’s something for everyone to do here,’ Hamilton said. Lovelace agreed, saying that her favorite game of the night was trying to knock down bottles to win a free t-shirt.

Aside from the games and free prizes, there were also performances that really wowed the crowd. Contortionist Jared Rydelek had some of his audience members cringing as he put a screwdriver into his head through his nose, fit his whole body through a squash racket and a tennis racket, escaped from a straight jacket and even walked on glass.

‘I’ve been performing since I was seven years old,’ 23-year-old Rydelek said. ‘I started out with magic, and then I wanted to do something real, not just tricks anymore.’ Rydelek was a contortionist for two years, before performing as a professional.
The Belly Dancers Club also put on a show for their audience and even had some people dancing in the crowd along with them. There were several students flashed their cameras, capturing the seductive dance on film.

Wolfie was around to add to the school spirit that night, along with RHA volunteers, to make the event run smoothly for their guests.

“This event is for the students to enjoy themselves,” Bedell said. “It gets better every year and people always seem to have a good time.”