Students who attended the Christmas Slam in December reaped the benefits of prizes, free pizza, Christmas Slam T-shirts and the opportunity to support the men’s and women’s basketball teams. Only one organization with the most tweets and attendance received the high-dollar prize.
ACU Acuity Winterguard won $1,000 for having the most members tweet and attend both games. Acuity Winterguard is a section of the colorguard program that performs indoor dance routines with flags, rifles and sabers.
Thirteen student organizations were involved in the Christmas Slam Contest, and 918 students registered to compete.
“We are very thankful to win and were very excited to participate in the Christmas Slam,” said Rebecca Mathis, Acuity Winterguard director. “Our winnings will go toward our 2014 competition season. This upcoming weekend we will have our first performance with the North Texas Colorguard Association in Aledo. These contests will continue in different venues across North Texas through the end of March.”
Mathis said expenses include travel, equipment, uniforms, props and registration fees.
“Acuity Independent Winterguard is very grateful for all of the many ways the University has supported their program,” Mathis said. “We are looking forward to representing ACU and its values as we reach out and perform for middle school, high school and college-aged students across North Texas.”
Students’ Association Executive Vice President Rodney Johnson said the Christmas Slam Contest was never just a social media competition.
“The competition was two-fold,” said Johnson, junior finance/pre-law major from Odessa. “Social media was the first aspect and attendance to the basketball games was the second portion. The overall goal and purpose of the competition was to boost support for our men’s and women’s basketball teams and get people to their games. We used twitter as the social media outlet for the competition.”
Members of student groups and organizations who participated in the Christmas Slam Contest tagged #ACUCHRISTMASSLAM in their tweets during the competition.
Johnson said the contest was open to all student groups and organizations. However, some students thought the competition was unclear and poorly broadcasted.
“I think that the whole campaign was handled poorly,” said Phillip Lamborn, political science major from San Diego, Calif. “The rules were never clearly laid out to the student body.”
Lamborn said the winner should’ve been announced on Twitter. He said he found out who won because he has class with an SA officer.
“I love how it got students involved and at the game, but the contest itself was handled poorly and made the contest feel pointless,” he said.
On the night of the Christmas Slam, more than 2,100 people attended the men’s basketball game, and more than 1,200 people attended the women’s basketball game.
“I was very pleased by everyones participation in the Christmas Slam competition,” Johnson said. “It is always refreshing to see our school rally around something. Overall, I believe the contest accomplished its purpose.”
Johnson said he hadn’t seen that many students attend a basketball game in the years he has been at ACU, and he hopes to use this strategy again.
“Thank you to all clubs and organizations that participated,” Johnson said. “Let’s keep supporting our student athletes.”
