Veishea was different this year. It had nothing to do with my consumption or non-consumption of alcohol. It was because Veishea has always meant that I got to see my old high school friends. Veishea weekend always meant that we had a time when we could all get together and not have to go through the scheduling around everyone’s schedule. Some stayed with me, some with other fellow classmates. We all got together sometime during the weekend, and we rehashed old times, caught up on gossip and generally enjoyed the fact that our friendship has survived college. I didn’t see any of them this year. Granted, there were other factors which led to this, but the “Cyclone Family” mentality didn’t help much.

Veishea was meant to be a showcase of our school. I know there are many more clubs and departments that decided to have a display or put money into a float. It depressed me to see so much grass in the Veishea Village. This celebration has moved off campus because not enough of our clubs and departments are proud enough to show off the reason they find their group worthy of their time, effort and money. Why should they put effort into showing off? They don’t want to encourage people to join their group? They don’t want to have the satisfaction of people saying that what they are doing is real cool? They want to just be lazy and walk around to other booths or sit on the side of the street during the parade? I say that next year’s Veishea should be a return to what was great about the celebration. Every club and every department should find something entertaining about themselves and try to encourage people to become part of their group. There are enough undecided students who would benefit from this. There may even be a few high school students they could gain on their side. Coming from a university town, I know the oath to never attend the hometown university. Veishea could break that oath for some of them.

But why stop with the departments and clubs? Ames and Iowa State are two distinctly separate institutions. I would love a penny for every time I have heard “I wouldn’t stay in Ames to save my life” or some variation on that theme. Ames should be proud and showcase it’s best, too. Encourage graduating seniors who will be working at the new engineering park to become involved with the city. Show the off-campus students that they are welcome to be a part of the clubs around town, too. Invite Iowa State students to care about the town they live in for most of the year. Let the parents of the prospective students know that their child will be safe and welcome to a town so far away from home.

In my opinion, if you make Veishea more interesting to attend and don’t leave the outsiders to their own devices while the “Cyclone Family” is all tucked safely out of the way of rioting fun at Dew the Rec (we were lucky this year, but who knows what will happen next year …), you won’t have to turn the town into a police state for the weekend. As far as my memory serves, all Veishea sponsored events have been traditionally dry; the more people you have at those events, the easier it is to keep an eye on them.

If you have Veishea, they will come. Let’s entertain them and show them that we are proud to be here paying thousands of dollars a year, learning cool things that will help us survive for the rest of our lives. Maybe we could even get the Ames residents to explain why they have decided to live here.

Barbara Benjegerdes

Senior

Horticulture