By Heather Wirick, Assistant News Editor
On Saturday, Feb. 15, Gettysburg’s Office of Student Activities and Greek Life hosted its annual Snowball dance. The semi-formal event has been a staple of student nightlife since 1994, granting students an unaffiliated opportunity to get out of the dorms for the night while donning their evening wear.
CUB Ballroom was adorned with traditional Snowball decor suited to this year’s theme, “Welcome to New York.”
OSAGL associate director Paige Redmond offered a few notes about this year’s event: “Snowball is a traditional event, we’ve done it before I worked here. This year we honed in on New York. My favorite part is the theme, thinking of new, exciting ways to incorporate the theme. This one might be the most fun.”
The CUB Ballroom decorated for the Snowball on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (Heather Wirick/The Gettysburgian)
The choice of decor, among other accouterments, sought to momentarily transport students out of Gettysburg for four hours away in the heart of New York City. After dining on an assortment of Asian Meatballs, Pizza Bagels and desserts, attendees could make their way to the middle of the ballroom and dance to music curated by a DJ.
If they weren’t feeling the rhythm, there was a black and gold balloon arch to take photos under, as well as a flurry of fake snow. According to Redmond, this is OSAGL’s first time experimenting with a balloon arch and fake snow, which seemed to be a hit amongst guests.
The annual planning and execution of Snowball is rather extensive, taking on the ambitious spirit of New York
“We have a team of nine programmers who meet every single week,” noted Redmond. “We plan out all of our events a couple of months in advance, so it’s looking at our calendar and making sure something is happening on the weekends.”
The student experience is at the heart of this planning.
“We want to provide students with a really great social experience. I like to tell the supervisors to dream big and let me scale them back if we need it. I tell them all the time to dream big. We always seek student input,” said Redmond.
Initiatives such as the student activities survey and a suggestion box at the club fair help guide. Redmond and her team towards what students want to see on their social calendar. Popular events such as Build-a-Bae are always worked in and used as inspiration to plan other sought-out events.
OSAGL has planned a series of New York-themed events to follow the Snowball including a New York bagel bar on Feb. 22. This will be followed by a performance by the NYChillharmonic, a Brooklyn-based band that fuses a series of musical genres on March 1 in partnership with the Majestic Theater where the event will take place.
