Commons Unplugged Victors. Fall Trivia Tournament. The semester nearing its end. Here’s everything you need to know about the Commons Cup as we finish our first semester here at Vanderbilt.
Commons Unplugged Week
October 31st through November 6th, the houses competed against each other to save the most energy. Congratulations to the top three conservationists.
1st Place – Sutherland is in the fight. After a tie with West for the top spot in kickball, Sutherland finally achieved their first solo win. One thing is for sure: this house is not done yet.
2nd Place – Hank is here to stay. This is now the third podium appearance for Common’s largest house – something no other house has yet to do. Hank will be in a great spot going into the latter half of this competition.
3rd Place – Crawford makes their first appearance. After some struggles in the athletic events, Crawford has gotten their name on the board. This should make the the buzz around Commons.
Fall Trivia
On Sunday, all houses met in the Commons Center for a battle of brains. Each house sent two teams (with the exception of East, who only sent one) to compete in a trivia tournament. The following teams placed:
1st Place – East gets a taste of victory. In spite of being the only house to send just one team, East managed to win the whole tournament. While this house is no stranger to the podium, their first gold of the competition should feel nice.
2nd Place – Stambaugh gets in the game. While the beginning of the competition started slow for them, a podium finish in the Trivia event should put Stambaugh back in the game.
3rd Place – Gillette makes a splash. No other house has faced the same set of challenges as this one, yet they have managed to stay afloat. There is just one question moving forward: will they sink or swim?
Final Thoughts
Although there is still some time left in the semester, Trivia was the last fall event for the Commons Cup. Now that we are about half way through the competition, it is a good time to examine how the houses place overall.
First, there appear to be three clear frontrunners: Hank, Sutherland, and East. These are the only three houses to make multiple podium appearances across different categories. However, none of these houses have made every event’s podium (Hank was the longest to hold that title until a loss this past Sunday).
This competition is tight. Eight of the ten houses have at least one podium finish, with a top 3 finish only eluding Murray and Memorial.
Most importantly, much of the information regarding Commons Cup has yet to be released. There is no public information about house performances in the Community Involvement category (making up 20% of the overall scores for the year). There are also ongoing events like the year-long energy conservation which will not be finalized until the end of the year. Finally, there are still plenty of opportunities for the rankings to shift before the end of the year.
So to close my final Commons Cupdate of 2021, I congratulate those who performed well in the first half of this competition and wish the best of luck to every house in the Spring Semester.
*Disclaimer: Daniel Sak, the author of this piece, is the Vice President of Hank Ingram House.