There are only a few events during the academic year at MSU where someone can be approached by men in Speedos and pet a live snake all at the same time.
Sparticipation, the annual freshmen showcase of clubs on campus, is one of them.
Sparticipation includes snakes, Speedos
This year’s Sparticpation greeted students to the new school year with free items at the Breslin Center, after the event was moved due to weather.
Student Activities Assistant Amanda Scharnweber said about 360 clubs participated in Sparticipation, and while she said she hoped for a 100 percent turnout, she estimated 80 percent freshmen attended.
Students were met with many different things Tuesday when they entered Breslin Center, but for most, zoology junior Samuel Kumming and his Leucistic Texas Rat Snake named Milk stood out.
Kumming is on the e-board for the MSU Herpetology Club, a club that Kumming said acts as a support group for those who love reptiles.
“Every month or so, we also put on an educational show. The club is kind of small, but we do generate a lot of interest from Sparticipation,” he said.
Graduate student Jeff Shepard shares Kumming’s feelings on Sparticipation for his own group, the Underwater Hockey Club.
Like Kumming, Shepard was not hard to spot, with his teammates and himself sporting Spartan Green Speedos while passing out information about their club.
Shepard reiterated a common theme among the clubs at Sparticipation: the event is by far their greatest recruiting tool.
“It is how we recruit all our new members,” he said. “Other than a few flyers we hand out at the dorms, this is how we get all our new members.”
Shepard said the Speedo was a recruiting tool, but offered reassurance to those who are less comfortable donning the attire.
“We tell people they can wear what suit they want to wear,” he said. “People eventually get comfortable and start wearing the Speedo.”
MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon was on hand for a pep rally scheduled after the event, and said Sparticipation is an important way for freshmen to get off to a good start on the banks of the Red Cedar River.
Although the threat of inclement weather moved the event from its usual home on Munn Field to inside the Breslin Center, Simon still seemed pleased with the turnout.
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“Unfortunately, the weather required our staff to make a call at around 2 p.m. today,” she said. “But I am pleased that we were able to use the auxiliary gyms (inside the Breslin Center)… and we were still able to do some positive things.”
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