Tag: college

By: Emily Storm

University of Minnesota students created a club whose purpose is to simulate the reality television show “Survivor” scaled to fit a college campus and featuring students as castaways.  The club is on their second season, and will wrap up with a live finale on April 23 in Coffman Memorial Union.

In a game whose purpose is to “outwit, outplay, and outlast,” student contestants participate in a tribal council to vote out a member, and then participate in a challenge to become immune from the next week’s tribal council every Sunday.

The day’s challenge is to continually cross a room, grabbing and stacking one cup at a time on their hand and on top of one another with a goal of stacking five consecutive cups.  If any cups are dropped, the players must restart.

The top three players compete in a second puzzle challenge, and the winner of the puzzle receives immunity the next week.  Luke Miller wins the puzzle challenge.

Before the challenge, contestant Miller reveals his plan to vote out Sam Ahmed in a confessional, saying “It’s either me or you at this point, and it’s not gonna be me, so it’s gotta be you.”

Ahmed is eliminated, though, his confessional is revealing of another game at hand, sportsmanship.  “At the end of the day, this is a game, I love Survivor and it’s a shame how this went down…but I wish everyone left in the game good luck, you guys got me, good game.” 

The club’s founder, Eidan Silver, feels similarly.  “The community is the biggest thing.  Survivor as a game to me is not necessarily about the winning and adrenaline…the goal of this organization on campus is just to make friends.”

By: Emily Storm

150 strangers, one stage, and limitless connections.  For the people of Minneapolis, Strangers Meeting Strangers is a new event created with the intention of forming connections with people of all walks of life within the Twin Cities.

The event’s attendees can throw their name into a raffle at the door. If chosen, they have the opportunity to meet and talk to another stranger from the event about any topic in front of the crowd of other strangers.  The talking periods last 10 minutes, and there are five conversations.

Liban Kano, the event’s founder, is a retired veteran who realized a need for connection upon returning to Minneapolis from the military.  “After a decade in the military, I realized I didn’t know many people anymore.  Life has changed, people have moved on.. I wanted to do the polar opposite of the military… and I wanted to get more into freeflow creative.”

Kano’s choice to step into a creative environment is inspiring others to venture out and create new connections, such as local artist and event attendee: Endio– who attended the event because he values connecting with other people.

“Every person has their own story, their own set of experiences.  Being able to find a common ground– that is so special,” Endio says.