A student is seen setting up his tent as he prepares for the rest of the evening during Campout. This event was organized by Union Activities Board and it took place on Miller field on Friday, 17th October. Campout, an NC State tradition, takes place every year where students gather, set up their tents, and enjoy on inflatable rides. This year, every student registered for the event earned 6 loyalty points to win tickets to a football game. Banu Ganeshan.
This Friday, the NC State Student Government Traditions Department will host Campout, an annual event that is a major tradition on campus. This year Campout will take place on Miller Fields and will feature plenty of programming, including Primetime with the Pack.
Campout is a NC State tradition that dates back to the 1980s where students spend all night camping and participating in activities before getting extra loyalty points for basketball tickets, according to Isabella Lee, a third-year studying political science and co-director of the Student Government Traditions Department.
“Originally, Campout was something that students did outside of Reynolds in the freezing cold in the winter, but now it is a Student Government-led event,” Lee said.
Campout runs from 4 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday, and will include a plethora of activities, including a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, pumpkin carving and field games according to Madison Teeter, a third-year studying political science and co-director of the Student Government Traditions Department.
“If you register for Campout, you are automatically registered for the majority of the events we have going on this year,” Teeter said. “We pair with athletics, URec, UAB, IRC and Campus Enterprises to hold all of these things. …”
This year, Campout is returning to its roots by raffling out basketball tickets to the game against UNC-Chapel Hill to some lucky students and making basketball a major theme for the event this year through the inclusion of Primetime with the Pack.
“The biggest thing that is new this year is our addition of 100 people winning a UNC Basketball ticket, so that’s without loyalty points, without any sort of caveat,” Lee said. “We are going to do a raffle of 100 people who stay the whole night of campout to win those tickets.”
One of the highlights of this year’s Campout will be Primetime with the Pack, a showcase of both the women’s and men’s basketball teams. This will be the first opportunity for students and the general public to look at the basketball teams, according to Lee.
“It is a free event, free to the public, and, especially with having a new basketball coach for the men’s team this year, it should be really exciting,” Lee said.
Programming will last late into the evening and early into the morning, and will include a mix of both traditional Campout activities and new activities.
“You don’t have to stay up all night, so our programming actually goes until 3 a.m. actually, and then we have some casual sports games you can play on Miller Field after that, so programming officially ends at 3 a.m. and wake-up call is at 6 a.m,” Teeter said. “So we have a three-hour gap where you can sleep, but all that other time that we have stuff going on. Miller Fields will be open the entire night so if you need to go back and rest, you totally can, but we just encourage, with all the programming going on, that you do that.”
There is also an opportunity to earn loyalty points, the point system that athletics uses to distribute tickets. Students who stay the whole night will earn six loyalty points, which gives students senior status when registering for athletic tickets, according to Teeter.
The registration period has been extended for students through Wednesday.
“If you are interested in participating, registration is open,” Lee said. “For students to register, they have to go to getinvolved.ncsu.edu and login, and then press the link for Campout registration. … As many students can participate as they want to participate; we are looking for a really great turnout this year, so Campout is going to be really awesome so every student should attend.”