Dragon Frost: a week-long, mini homecoming event

BY DANE KIPP
kippda@mnstate.edu

Those looking to beat the winter blues can look forward to Dragon Frost kicking off on Feb 7.

“(Dragon Frost is) like a mini homecoming for freshmen and sophomores,” said Andrew McKenzie, Homecoming and Dragon Frost coordinator. “Its time to have fun during a cold, wintery week — relieve some stress and have some fun. We picked a tropic theme to distract from the snow… we’ve designed the whole week for people to come out and have fun.”

Part of this mini homecoming involves snow royalty. Unlike homecoming royalty, Dragon Frost royalty is for freshmen and sophomores only.

“This is a chance for residents that are younger to be recognized. We got a lot of nominations, which is awesome,” McKenzie said.

In addition to royalty, the week boasts a variety of events, most of which are free, to keep students busy. A complete list of events is available on MSUM’s official website, but McKenzie highlighted a few.

“There’s a snow sculpture competition for individuals or organizations,” he said. “There’s no specific topic, use your imagination.

The snow sculpture contest is on Monday with judging at 3 p.m. It is free to enter, and the winner will receive a $100 prize.

Other events include a chili feed outside the Center for the Arts on Tuesday, the One Ton Sundae ice cream social in the CMU on Wednesday and a pool party in Nemzek on Thursday with music and games.

The Dragon Entertainment Group is sponsoring several events, including a showing of the recent movie “The Social Network” on Monday night.

“Something we’re doing cool for this movie is putting up a projection of a Twitter hash tagging conversation about the movie,” said Billy “Chia” McDonald, showcase and marketing coordinator for the Dragon Entertainment Group. For those with Twitter accounts, the conversation is at #msumsn.

The Group has also set up a performance by mentalist Chris Carter.

“Chris Carter has performed at our school every year for the better part of a decade,” McDonald said. “He’s guaranteed to freak out any audience with his mind games.”

The Dragon Entertainment Group’s big event is the dinner and formal dance on Friday. There are 140 seats at $10 per seat. There will be a dinner from 7-8 p.m. From 8-9 p.m. there will be ballroom dancing with personal lessons from the Swing Club. From 9 p.m.-1 a.m. there will be a dance party.

“The Group is really excited,” McDonald said, “ ‘cause we’ve never done anything like this and we’re pumped to make this as special as homecoming.”