By Matthew Fowler, A&E Editor
Will a Friends University or Wichita State University student win the Gaming Club UNO Tournament?
Or will a Newman student be able to hold them off?
The Gaming Club, one of Newman University’s newest student organizations, will host a revamped interuniversity UNO Tournament beginning at 7 p.m. on March 7 in the Dugan Library Conference Center as part of the club’s goal to increase students’ engagement with their community.
The club was officially approved during the fall semester and focuses on gaming of all types but emphasizes board games and card games. The club has hosted many events, including game nights, Dungeons & Dragons campaign sessions, a Lunar New Year celebration in partnership with the Asian Student Association and the Multicultural Leadership Organization, and its first UNO Tournament, which the club put on for Newman students on Oct. 31. It presented the first- and second-place finishers with 3D-printed UNO themed trophies.
This time, however, along with the trophies for the top two finishers, the first-place winner will receive an air-fryer and the second-place finisher will be awarded a Bluetooth speaker. The third-place finisher will get candy.
Nathan Galicia, the Gaming Club President and co-founder, said that the club was important to him because it has a valuable role in broadening Newman’s sense of community. He wanted students to be able to interact with students from Wichita’s other colleges as well.
“To me, community means more than just the students here at Newman,” Galicia said. “It should be more than Newman University itself. It should be the whole area community, especially because we are one of three universities in Wichita. We get easily thrown into categories, and no one knows who we are.”
Galicia said he was proud of the club’s success at encouraging camaraderie between students and that he wanted to build off that with more events like the UNO Tournament.
“Our whole goal for this was to build back community and build students wanting to be on campus, and it is starting to work,” Galicia said. “We are getting there; it is going to take time, of course, but it means a lot knowing that stuff like this is definitely growing. People from other schools are wanting to come in as well and do the UNO Tournament with us.”
Students can register for the tournament the night of, but Galicia said he encourages interested students to watch the gaming club’s social media for a link to the sign-up page or reach out to one of the Gaming Club executive board members to sign up in advance.
Galicia said he hopes for a good turnout and that it will be a great event among friends from all parts of the Newman community.
“It will be fun,” he said. “It will be worth it.”
PHOTO: Courtesy photo, Deqlan Mitchell
