crazy for chicken

Chick-fil-A's Grand Opening Draws a Craving Crowd

*Thisis something youtell your grandkidS .

Your grandpa spent the night OUTSICIG

Of a ChJCk-f Jl-/?. J -John Pugh.

W ha t motivated nearly 200 people,the majority Liberty students and others from theLynchburg community, tosacrifice sleep and warmth inthe parking lot ofa Chick-fil-A, andbravethe night through temperatures dropping to30 degrees? Theunanimous answerto that question was:freechicken.

To commemorate itsgrandopening, theChick-fil-Aon Wards Road offered the first 100people whoarrived free Chick-fil-A for a year.The announcement was made during a Wednesday Convocation to thousands of hungry, andpoor, college students.Junior Jesse McCoun arrived atnoon the daybefore the grand opening By 2:15p.m., the initial 100spots were filled, with students and local patrons still arriving.

Those whoweren't among the first 100were allowed tostay andtake their chances incase oneoftheselected few decided that thelong cold wait wasn't worth it. Once signed inand tagged with acolored wristband,participants had toremain on theproperty orbe disqualified When asked why she came out, Senior Susan Fitzgerald said,"To spend quality time with my friends. What else can you doonaWednesday night except hang out at Chick-fil-A all night?" •

Four participants play Halo 2 ina make-shift out-door living room Chick-fil-A allowed studentsto run extension cords fromthe building inorder to power their various forms of entertainment, including video gaming systems, televisions andDV Dplayers

Students were allowed tosignout forthenightwith signed permissionslips from either the Dean of Men or the Dean of Women.

Many students came to visitfriends who were participating,bring them food and warm drinks or justhelp them pass the time.Students set up tents,sofas,TVs,laptops and X-boxes They watched movies, played hackey sack, football and cards to pass the time and help them forget about the November chill.

Chic-fil-A provided meals, bathroom access and entertainment

A DJ from a local radio station was brought in to keep the loyal fans entertained with music,contestsand prizes.The crowd caused such a buzz in town, the local ABC News affiliate came out to capture the Chic-fil-A stakeout

While some attempted to sleep through the cold and the noise, others stayed wide awake to enjoy the not-so-typical late night in Lynchburg Blake O'Brien explained, "I've got a 9:25 class,so Ifigure why bother going tosleep?"

Despitethecold, thecrowdsand thesleepdeprivation, theambiance oftheevening made formemories thatrepresented thespontaneity college life could bring.As Freshman John Pugh said,"I would be out here evenif 1wasn't getting anything This is something you tellyour grandkids 'Your grandpa spent the night outside ofa Chick-fil-A.'" UBgRaeidPou/eM

[the coupons]allthe time because they say they were free. But they weren't free. We had to wait J8 hours in the freezingcold for those. -Photoby

T:Ihat's a lotof Christmas!"was the theme of the 2004 Coffee House on a December evening. Over 2,200 students turned out towatch theirpeers perform in the newly remodeled Schilling Center The doors opened at 11:30 p.m., and students packed in wall to wall,some even standing to enjoy the incredible campus talentuntil2:00 a.m.

Director of Student Activities,Ira Richards, and his staff had a long 48 hours leading up to and following the Coffee House event Richards said,"StudentActivities, aside from putting on our other activities throughout the semester, has been planning Coffee House since early November The Student Activities Staff did not get to bed until after 3 a.m. on Thursday night,slept for a few hours,went to class the following morning, showed up inSchilling again on Friday at 11:00 a.m. and stayed until 7 a.m. the following morning As you can imagine,we are allexhausted aftertheevent." Held every semester,there were some new aspects that made this2004 Coffee House different from the past. Not only did Student Activities have to adapt to a brand new, RichardPowellbustsoutwithMichaelJackson renovated Schilling Center, butthesemester also moves during theperformance with hisfriends , , entitled, "notyouraverageChristmasmedley." brought 3 new Coffee House host Nathan Cooley, Theentireensembleofdanceandraphadthe a Sophomore, brought energy and enthusiasm to crowd on their feetcheering -Photo by Deanna Wall

Daniel Cummin s captivates • the audience with his solo I rendition of "Don't Save It All For Christmas Day."

Cummin s wa s one of few wh o actually chose to perform a Christmas themed act -Photo by Deanna Wall

Luke Smith sings a song he wrote telling of the excitment of opening presents on Christmas morning Smith wa s a regular favorite of Coffee House the stage andenjoyed afew costume changes which included apairaChristmas PJ's and a classicblack tuxedo

The newlayout forthe Schilling Center raised some difficultieswhen students were forced tostand ontheoutskirtsofthestage. Richardsand his staff had brainstormed on how to fix this problem. "Ourtremendous growth here atLU makes ita challenge to produce activities, aswe are constantly developing newways toaccommodate the growth. Iguess that'spart ofwhat makes my job soexciting;having to think ofcreative ways totake past Student Lifesuccesses andmake them bigger andbetterthan ever,"saidRichards

SeniorHan Tan from Malaysiawho ledhisband ofhorn instrumentsin"I'm dreaming of a White Christmas,"hadthe crowd roaring at his rendition which began, "I'm dreaming of a white...woman." The humor continued with a short film parody ofLUPD edited by JustinKintzel The filmwas acrowd winnerespeciallywhen Dr Jerry Falwellmade a cameo appearance.Out ofthe over 50actsthatauditioned forachance toshowcase theirtalent in the Coffee House spotlight,14were selected "Itwas the most excitingthing I'veever done at themost exciting University," said Sophomore Ryan Hooper. Hooper along with Light ministries members Whitney Baker andDJ Corkey performed the grand finalebysinginga medley offavoriteChristmas carols "Idid ittohelp my friendsout and because Iwas feeling jolly," explained Hooper. uBgAdmi

Hall

is like tryingto coach afootball teSHT ) through a pin g pon g tournamentJ

-Jon Washburn

hen Jon Washburn was firstintroduced to the idea of Resident Assistants (RA) atLiberty University inhisfreshman year,he was not sure of how to view the responsibility