By: Grace Leone
A popular Bellarmine tradition held by the Bellarmine Activities Council (commonly referred to as the BAC) is Late Knight Bingo, which many students play. However, many members of BAC work behind the scenes to put on the favored event.
Prior to the game, members plan themes, schedule co-hosts, and purchase prizes. Allison Carpenter, a senior psychology major with a human resources concentration, is the BAC’s knight life co-chair. She is very involved in planning each bingo as well as late Knight Breakfast.
Carpenter said: “We have at least two meetings. We have to coordinate with catering and facilities to get Frazier set up and then we coordinate with the rest of our team to get everything from the SAC.”
During the event, those assisting with it will arrive at Frazier Hall around 8 p.m. to set it up. Lily Koch, a senior nursing and Spanish double major, is the BAC’s vice president of marketing, and her voice is often heard calling the bingo numbers.
“We have certain people that usually are checking people in, and I'm usually the caller. So, I'm working more on the stage to get things set up with the computer and the microphones. Then some of our other team members are at the table making sure we have the prizes and cards and daubers ready,” Koch said.
A student receives bingo cards for the game.
The prizes draw players for each bingo night and are often chosen based on student recommendations.
Carpenter said: “We send out a survey, usually once or twice a semester, to see what kind of prizes the student body wants to see. That way we're not just getting the same prizes every single time. So, we'll choose some prizes from that and then really we're just surfing Amazon to see what is the latest trending prizes and items.”
Sometimes prizes will focus on a particular bingo’s theme.
“We have a planning committee meeting where we decide what kind of prizes we want to look for depending on if we have a theme. So, like [February’s bingo] was a Valentine's theme, so we tried to choose some Valentine's type things, but we also didn't want to just do Bellarmine gear like we had done in the past. So, we had some LEGO sets, we had a bean bag chair, a waffle maker, and a couple other little things that we hadn't really seen at other bingos so far,” Carpenter said.
Abby Caudill, sophomore psychology major and the BAC’s outreach co-chair, said there are various types and sizes of prizes players can win each round.
Caudill said: “So, this past round we did a pair of Beats [headphones], we did a TV. There's always a few kinds of smaller but still big prizes, like an echo dot or something like that, but [we] kind of just find a wide variety of prizes.”
The members of BAC involved with Late Knight Bingo said they love to see students get excited about playing the game and winning prizes.
Carpenter said, “For me personally, I so much enjoy hearing someone scream bingo at the top of their lungs and racing other people to the prize table to see what they can get first.”
Koch said she noticed a table of regulars who attend each Late Knight Bingo and are very interactive each time they attend.
“There is a table of students that comes to every single bingo, and I just think they have a really fun time. They're always like talking to me when I'm on the stage, and they're like yelling back jokes with me so that's always fun,” Koch said.
Caudill said the bingo held during family weekend get parents involved with the high energy format of BAC bingo.
“I specifically love family weekend bingo. Just because like we get to have so many like family members there: siblings, parents, grandparents. So, it's just like a different level of bingo where it's like the students are used to like how they play and how aggressive they are, but then they get to like bring their family members into it,” Caudill said.
In the past year, the BAC has worked on getting and implementing feedback for improvements to the event. A recent improvement has been the effort to make the event more accessible for students with different accessibility needs.
Koch said: “Starting last year, we met with Krista [Schuz-Hampton] in the Accessibility Resource Center, and we were kind of made aware of some ways that we can make our events more accessible in general. One of the ways we're trying our best to do that is by reserving the table in the front for our students with different abilities to help make sure they have a fair chance to also win the prizes and to feel welcomed and comfortable at bingo.”
Bingo cards and table reservation signs sit on a table for student pick-up.
Caudill discussed the visible aspects of different card patterns shown on screen for each round.
Caudill said, “We've made things bigger for people to see who are in the way back.”
The BAC plans to continue working behind the scenes to improve upon and host Late Knight Bingos for student enjoyment throughout the school year.
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