Involvement Week lasted from Sept. 18 to Sept. 28 with a bevy of events for students and student groups to participate in. Student groups participated in Involvement Games for the chance to win the following prizes: $500 for first place, $250 for second place and a pizza party for third place.  

To kick off Involvement Week, "Shazam It!" featured students competing head-to-head against the app across various musical genres to see who the true music connoisseurs were.

Hosted by the Center for Leadership and Service, the game show was held Tuesday, Sept. 18 in the Cougar's Den from 7 to 9 p.m.

In the show, contestants competed for points, which they could trade in for Kean apparel from the bookstore.

To win points, two contestants from either team met on stage, and a song played for up to 20 seconds. Competing against both each other and Shazam, the contestants would then buzz in when they felt that they knew the song in question.

Two points were awarded per song if correct. If the answer was incorrect, the opposing contestant would have a chance to steal the points. If neither guess correctly, Shazam would keep the points.

Ironically, Shazam won the event in overall points. However, due to Shazam being an app that is unable to claim the prizes, the losing students took advantage instead.

Friday, Sept. 18 marked the beginning of Involvement Week's scavenger hunt.

Students were invited to visit the Involvement Center in the Miron Student Center (MSC), Room 303 to receive a copy of the scavenger hunt quiz. The quiz had a variety of prompts for students including:

• Getting to know three involved students and listing what student groups they are a part of
• Picking up a copy of The Cougar's Byte
• Listing four ways students can engage in the Kean campus community
• Listing four types of categories a student group can fall in
• Naming one of the theatres on the Kean Union campus
• Naming the username of the Involvement Center's social media accounts
• Naming Kean University's most frequently used hashtag
• Listing two ways a student can partake in community service

The scavenger hunt was available for students to complete until Involvement Week ended Friday, Sept. 28. Upon completion, students were able to revisit the Involvement Center to earn their prize.

The Center for Leadership and Service (CLS) held a beach volleyball tournament for this year's Involvement Games Wednesday, Sept. 19 at the Miron Student Center Volleyball Sandpit.

Contestants were fortunate to have a beautiful, sunny day as they challenged each other to qualify for the volleyball finals Wednesday, Sept. 26. Each round was two matches to 15 points and each team was allowed three to four players. Some students interested in volleyball who did not belong to any particular student group were also allowed to play on behalf of any student organization that they wanted.

Every competing team gave their best as members dove, set, hit and dug to make every point. The following are the final results of each challenging match up:

• Round 1: Catholic Newman Club defeated Wenzhou-Kean University Student Association.
• Round 2: Catholic Newman Club defeated Filipinos Uniting Nations at Kean.
• Round 3: Catholic Newman Club tied Gamma Psi Epsilon.

Good work to everyone who played and congratulations to Catholic Newman Club and Gamma Psi Epsilon for winning!

On Tuesday, Sept. 25 students participated in a game of Deal or No Deal. Student representatives of organizations were encouraged to come to the Involvement Center in the Miron Student Center (MSC), Room 303, where the game was set up to have their chance at testing their luck.

The Deal or No Deal computer game was featured on a wall-mounted TV. Students were prompted by the Deal or No Deal simulation to reserve one of the 26 cases, each containing anywhere from $0.01 to $1,000,000.

Afterward students went through the remaining 25 cases to eliminate the different cash deals held in each case. Every time a case's cash amount was revealed, an anonymous banker would offer a competitive deal for the player to consider. It was up to the student representative to either accept the deal from the anonymous banker or to stick with their initial case in the hopes that it would have a better cash value.

Shammi Ahmed, script master of Cougars in Motion, said, "[Deal or No Deal] was really fun and having my other club members here made it even more fun because they where cheering me on."

The next Involvement Game was Minute 2 Win It, an event that was held Sept. 26 for student groups to engage in fun activities and challenges in hopes of adding points for their group. Minute 2 Win It consisted of a series of minute long challenges that participants must complete under that minute time frame. If they are able to complete the task, they receive points towards their Involvement Games total.

Each participant was given seven challenges. First, students had to stack Jenga blocks on a Popsicle stick, sticking out from their mouths. The next Minute 2 Win It challenge was to flip a half-filled water bottle into the air and have it stand.

While the first few challenges were simple, it became more challenging as they were deeper into the tasks. The two most difficult tasks were to transfer cotton balls from a bowl into a plate using only the participant's nose and to stack cups with paper dividers while removing the papers without having the cup tower collapse.

The students who took on the Minute 2 Win It challenges were having a great time and the event consisted of laughs and positive energy.

Overall, Involvement Week was a fun-filled time on campus that elevated the interaction among students and student groups. 

For more information on the Involvement Center, please visit their webpage or contact them at (909) 737-5270.