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As the Darts Fly

Foam in the Liberal Arts

It’s a Saturday night. As you approach the Chamberlain building you see the lights inside are dimmed and you can feel the pounding of the music emanating from inside. There is a mass of people loading NERF blasters and preparing for battle. The first game of the night is announced, “Zombies,” and everyone yells excitedly. This is Foam in the Liberal Arts, or FILA, Houghton’s NERF club.

FILA CMYKFILA meets most Saturday nights in the Chamberlain building from 8:00-11:00 p.m. and has been a weekend highlight for some students for several years. It is “a great way to wind down and have fun with your friends and meet new people,” said first year student, Kirsten Brady. Brady said what she enjoys most is the “opportunity to run through the halls of a building acting like kids for a few hours, and the bonus is you get to shoot people.”

A typical night at FILA consists of about six to eight different games. “We usually start off each night with a fan favorite game, usually ‘Humans vs. Zombies,’” said FILA president, Justin Bullard, junior. “After that we like to mix up the games to keep it fresh each time we have an event. We can play any combination of games on our roster such as ‘3&1’ (teams of four with one medic and three survivors), ‘Team Deathmatch,’ or a frequent-member favorite, ‘All Medics,’ which is an all out free-for-all where anyone can shoot anyone and anyone can revive anyone.”

Sophomore, Shannon Derby, said, “FILA has definitely been a fantastic experience! I tend to be pretty introverted and FILA helps to pull me out of my shell and get to know people outside of my regular friend groups. I’ve made some really close friends through it. It’s also definitely adrenaline pumping and by the time the night is over, I am already excited for the next Saturday!”

FILA received official status as a club on campus last spring, which has come into effect this fall. Within the campus service budget, the club event fund exists to sponsor certain clubs, such as FILA. The club continues to have a budget, which the cabinet uses to purchase darts as well as pay for repairs to Chamberlain. In previous years, this has been an issue. Last year, the glass casings of two paintings on the second floor were shattered on separate occasions, stopping game play for the night each time. In addition to these rare incidents, the walls have accrued scuffs and markings.

Club members also believe it to be a recruiting tool and selling point for the college. When prospective student tours pass through Chamberlain, the guides often have them pause to look up at the skylight to see suction-cup darts which have been stuck there for years.  “I’ve heard from different students that the NERF club is actually one of the reasons why they picked Houghton over some of their other choices,” said, senior, Caroline VanVleck.

Some students and professors have expressed concern in regards to the noise level produced by students running through the halls. “What if there are people in here trying to study or do work?” said, junior, Brittany Hark, who was working in the Mac Lab during a FILA event. “It doesn’t bother me. The music is sometimes a little loud, but I have headphones for that. But I could see how it might bother someone who was doing a little more serious work,” said Hark.

Despite these concerns, Bullard said, “The purpose of FILA is to give students a way to blow off steam and get away from their busy schedules.”