Published on Oct. 12, 2018
Last week, students across campus gathered for the fourth annual Geek Week, one of the Honor’s College most popular events. Geek Week is a week-long celebration of all things “geeky” and is open to all students. Events from this year’s Geek Week included game night, movie screenings, trivia night, faculty-led discussion and much more.
While the first official Geek Week was held in the 2016, Geek Week was an informal event created by MU Honors students many years ago. When Honors College Advisor Kristina Bradley got wind of the tradition, she decided to make it an official event.
“Geek Week was an informal event back before they had digital records, so I didn’t have a template for how I wanted this to go,” Bradley says. “We wanted to make it fun and social, where you can connect with like-minded students, but also have an educational event as well. Geek Week is not just for the super geeks; there is something for everyone.”
This year, Bradley enlisted the Honors Programming Board to help plan Geek Week. Junior Tony Vazquez is the board’s president and a Geek Week veteran having attended the past three years. Vazquez describes Geek Week as an opportunity to welcome freshmen and non-honors students into the Honors community.
“Geek Week is a chance to connect the honors community with the rest of the campus, especially targeting the freshmen,” Vazquez says. “The events are opportunities to meet students and provide everyone with fun environments to embrace their geekiness and show what the Honors College can be for them.”
In addition to yearly events like Trivia Night, Game Night and HonCon Activities Fair, the Honors Programming Board partnered with a number of organizations to bring unique events to the agenda. On Wednesday, the Mark Twain longue turned into an art studio for “Crafternoon”, where students made DIY stress balls. Vida Coffee Co. gave a presentation on Thursday about the science of coffee and how to make latte art. The week concluded Saturday with a tailgate at The Shack with members of Tiger’s Liar.
The addition of these events paid off, as the Honors Programming Board hoped. Like Vazquez, sophomore Claire Smrt is a member of the Honors Programming Board. She says that the attendance this year at many events was the highest Geek Week has seen.
“Attendance was highest this year in many of our annual events, especially Trivia Night,” Smrt says. “I was very happy about the overall enthusiasm that everyone that came to the events showed.”
Though it’s hard to pick one thing, Vazquez’s favorite part about Geek Week is the high energy that surrounds the tradition.
“It’s five days of awesome events, and no event is a dud,” he says. “They’re all fun in their own way. It’s the Honors College, I just love it.”