Clash and Celebration - February 2024

 Hello to all parents, guardians, families, friends, and students of 1504! 

With the month of February now finished, it is time for another installment of the 1504 hall blog, looking at the past Clash of the Halls celebration and other developments around campus and in our hall, as well as an important announcement at the end of the post from RC Cynthia. 

Clash of the Halls

1504, ready for Clash Pep Rally!

For many of our students, one of the most iconic periods of the IMSA year is the annual Clash of the Halls competition. In this week-long event, all 7 IMSA residence halls compete in a series of events designed to bring out a wide array of individual student talents and hall camaraderie in a battle to determine who will be the next Clash champions.

Unfortunately, 1504 struggled to maintain its momentum with the various Clash events this year. due to initial setbacks and rule enforcements early on, especially when it came to Hall Decorations. From there, the 1504 students had to make some hard sacrifices on which events to really focus on with their remaining time and resources. 

As such, for many 1504 students, the main participation in this year's Clash came during its culminating event: the Pep Rally. The biggest part of Pep Rally is when every hall gets to demonstrate its dance routine, known in the IMSA community as its "Drill." Leaning into its grey theme of "Dystopia," 1504's Drill routine began with every student donning an identical full-face mask before giving their all in an energetic dance routine. Every year, the Clash Drill is one of 1504's biggest prides, and this year's was no exception, even as Clash overall did not quite go in the hall's favor this year with a final placement of 7th out of all 7 halls.

Still, even if this year's Clash was not 1504's best, it is still worth highlighting and celebrating the sense of camaraderie that goes into it every year, and thanks to many of the parents and guardians for our hall, we were able to do just that! On the night of Tuesday, February 27, during our designated Residence Life programming time slot, 1504 was able to host a post-Clash pizza party, complete with an array of grey-packaged snacks and drinks, in line with our hall's Clash theme. With the stormy weather and tornado warning earlier that same evening, our students were already under instructions to remain in the hall, so the party was really fortunate timing!

Our thanks goes out to the wonderful Mrs. Lidia Granger for helping arrange our pizza orders and to the following parents/guardians for contributing:

Amy Krolow

Rohini Mehta

Piyush Swain 

Nayana Shelar 

Guirong Zhang

Joseph Fernandes

Vivien Ho

David Granger

Catie Wicks

Amy Thiery

Courtney Tang

M. David Larkin

Chhavi Saxena

Toni Ellingson

Beth Osmund

Castillo family

Trips and Daily Living

Outside of large-scale events such as Clash and besides the humdrum of academic and extracurricular rigor that shapes much of our students' lives and schedules, the 04 RCs continue to do everything in our power to make everyday living at IMSA as vibrant and engaging as possible. Whether that be by offering a listening ear and some snacks in our RC Office or by using the weekends to give our students opportunities to get off campus for a bit, we are determined to continue offering our time and services for our students. 

For example, the past month of February saw RC Kylie offer another weekend trip to Mitsuwa Marketplace in Arlington Heights, allowing our students the chance to spend a few hours exploring the Japanese market and food court, having a nice meal and stocking up on study snacks. In a similar vein, both RC Ethan RC Cynthia celebrated some of the bigger days in February (the Super Bowl and Valentine's Day, respectively) by putting out snacks for all of our students right in the office. 

As this semester goes on and the academic rigor increases, we want to remind the 1504 community that your RC team is always here to support in any way that we can!

 RC Cynthia Smith

Hey 1504!

I wanted to take a moment to inform you that I have taken another career opportunity and I will be leaving my position as an RC during Spring Break. This has been in the works for a while and happened very unexpectedly, yet I am grateful for the opportunity. It has been an incredible experience working alongside all of you, especially my fellow RCs. I value the time that I have spent here and I have learned so much; from being taught how to play chess and poker to learning how to juggle 96 young people, I feel invincible lol. B-Wing, thank you for allowing me to lead you as your RC and even helping me when I had no idea of what I was doing, I appreciate you!

As I move on to new opportunities, please know that I will carry with me the lessons learned and the memories of our time together. 1504, though I am sad about missing your prom, graduations and future achievements, I wish you much success and joy in all of your endeavors.

Peace!!

Cynthia Smith

RC: 1504 B-Wing

That's all from the 1504 RCs for now! Please remember that Spring Break is coming up at the end of March, with the halls closing at 1pm on Saturday, March 23. Start planning for your student's departure and reach out to us with any questions at 04staff@imsa.edu.