Ouachita Stories

The Ouachita Student Foundation (OSF) along with the Ouachita Baptist University Board of Trustees will host Tiger Traks on April 23-24 on Ouachita’s campus.

Traks is “a great way to get involved in campus community. It is one thing on campus that everyone can get involved in no matter who they are,” said OSF Co-President Laura Kirby, a senior speech communication major from Mesquite, Texas.

Traks is based on teamwork. This teamwork stems from the eight-member teams that are created by students on campus. The only requirement is that every team must include at least four females. Students, faculty and staff are all encouraged to participate.

“Once students talk to their friends, they form a team and register by filling out the registration form and turning it in along with their money ($15 per participant or $120 per team) to the OSF tent that is in the middle of campus for two weeks or by mailing it to me, Jessica Bruchan, at OBU Box 4533,” said OSF Director of Special Events Jessica Bruchan, a senior accounting major from Lucas, Texas.

On the weekend of the event, teams compete in various games, and monetary prizes are awarded for first, second and third places.

Some of the games include: egg toss, ice fishing, basketball relay, the game center (includes charades, spelling, fill-in-the blank, and Pictionary), tiger trek, raft races, mega relay, oozeball (mud volleyball) and mud tug-o-war.

The games are scored by how many teams choose to participate in Tiger Traks. “The events are scored by points. The team that comes in first gets the most points,” Bruchan explained. “The highest level of points is determined by how many teams there are. If there are 30 teams, first place in one event will get 30 points, second place gets 29 and so on.”

The money made from Traks is used to pay for the event itself.

“Our goal is to not take money out of our scholarship fund. We have been very careful to use all of our money wisely and not use it on things we do not need,” Kirby said. “We hope that in years to come, Traks will be a money maker and we will be able to add money to our scholarship fund.”

“Tiger Traks is such a special spring event because the weather is normally great and people want to be outside and have fun with their friends during the last few weeks of school,” Bruchan said.  “It is also a tradition from the time Traks originally started.”

“Traks will be a weekend no one will forget,” Kirby agreed.

For more information, contact Jessica Bruchan at [email protected], Michael Paulk at [email protected] or Tim Harrell at [email protected].

By Becca Watts