Root Beer pong on campus

At 11 a.m. students were playing beer pong on Dexter Lawn. It was not an alternate reality, but instead a festival of root beer and drinking games to promote awareness of student drinking habits.

The scene was complete with every form of entertainment one might find at a backyard fraternity party: three root beer pong tables, an emcee, music and free root beer floats for everyone.

“We just wanted to provide a fun activity for all our students here,” marketing senior Brandon Wadley said. “Drinking games are fun, but when you drink too much, things can get out of hand. But we’re just showing people you can have fun with being sober.”

Root Beer Fest, as it was called, was designed as a fun promotional event around the “Under Four” campaign seen on T-shirts and flyers all over Cal Poly. Wadley said that’s the average number of drinks a Cal Poly student will consume in a given sitting.

“The average is just under four,” he said. “It’s a social norms campaign. If we promote that people are drinking less than what people are perceiving, then we hope to get people’s perceptions down.”

In addition to root beer pong, there was also a competition that involved some multitasking: Students were asked to keep a hula hoop around their waist while at the same time consuming an entire cup of root beer.

“It’s all in the hips,” nutrition junior Shealy Lebowitz said.

“I took the approach to just throw the hula hoop once, give up on the hips, and just start chugging,” business senior Evan Marme said.

Winners of the competition received coolers to keep their future canned beverages cold.

So why root beer instead of, say, Coke?

“Because root beer is way more fun,” business senior Marissa Godwin said. “And it tastes great. Root beer floats – you can’t beat that.”