Residence Life Hosts 9th Annual ‘Red & Gray Party’

Following a nine-year tradition, Stevens’ Residence Life hosted the Red & Gray ‘Glow in the Duck’ Party to celebrate the start of the semester. “[The Red & Gray Party] has become a staple to the Stevens community,” said Steven Couras, Campus Area Director of Stevens, who, in collaboration with the resident assistants, oversaw this event. “We keep it new and fresh, and [each year] it’s our first major event that shows our school spirit.”

The 9th Annual ‘Red & Gray Party’ was hosted on August 28, 2017, which was the first day of classes for most Stevens students. For two weeks leading up to the event, posters were hung around campus and announcements were made in numerous emails to advertise the event. An hour before the ‘Red & Gray Party,’ Residence Life knocked on all the doors of the first-year dorms as a final reminder for the party.

Whether it was the heavy advertising or the promise of ‘Glow Swag’ for the “first 250 students,” there was a line of over 300 people that coiled from Walker Gymnasium all the way to the Howe Center, all of whom were waiting to enter the party.

“We never had a line this long before,” said Couras, smiling at this unprecedented feat.

Once inside the Red & Gray Party, all types of music blared from the stereos, ranging from pop music — such as ‘Despacito’ and ‘Party in the USA’ — to modern electronic club music.

For a third year, Residence Life invited ‘DJ Ozone’ — a Music and Technology major at Stevens, whose real name is Owen Egbert — to DJ the event.

The Stevens Book Store donated 20 gift cards and certificates for this event, which Residence Life awarded to the most “enthusiastic dancers” on the dance floor. This created a dance floor full of modern club dancing, ‘the robot,’ and other moves.

But some didn’t need incentive to have choreography prepped. Two of Stevens’ Multicultural Greek organizations — Omega Phi Beta and Lambda Upsilon Lambda — were invited to ‘stroll’ at the Red & Gray Party. ‘Strolling’ is a type of synchronized dance popular among fraternities and sororities, and this, for some, was a highlight of the night.

After about two hours, people dwindled out of Walker Gym, and the event ended. Residence Life didn’t record the event’s attendance, but they estimated “over 700 people” were present over the course of the night, which made the event “a huge success.” Next year, Residence Life hopes to make the event even “more fresh” by making it bigger and better.