Seas of blue and orange-clad fans flooded onto campus as the weather began to get warmer on Saturday afternoon. Grills fired up, frosty drinks cracked open and tents pitched along University Drive as visitors prepared for the first home game of the season.
Amidst the waves of Bronco blue and vivid orange, students dressed in white filtered through the throngs of people and made their way to the intramural field for a brand new event: Boise State’s first
The white-shirted students began collecting on the field around 11:30 a.m., playfully picking up handfuls of the blue and orange chalk and tossing it at their friends to watch the color stick to the white in sporadic patterns. The University Pulse DJed the event, playing tunes to give the color-throwers something to dance to as they bombed each other with the powdery substance.
More students began to collect at the four booths set up on the field and started grabbing the individually wrapped packs of color, tearing them open and tossing them at the nearest person. As the crowd grew, the excitement spread as quickly as the color across the pristine white shirts. As more color filled the air and field, the more homogenized the population became—evolving from a group of students into a body of orange and blue people who were nearly indiscernible from each other.
“I thought the color fight was really well planned,” said Caitlin Kreyche, junior majoring in mathematics secondary education. “There was more than enough color for everyone, and it made the Miami game more memorable than other football games I’ve been to. I had tons of fun splattering friends and strangers with color.”
Smatterings of blue and orange coated the students until the only white showing was the white of teeth as the students laughed at each other’s new pseudo-Avatar face paint. The University Pulse kept the energy high, occasionally beckoning the students to gather into a crowd and counting down for a group throw. The result culminated in handfuls of the powder being released into the air at once in an explosion of color, cheers and the peculiar distinctive odor of the chalk.
“It was a huge success and everyone had a blast,” junior accounting and finance major Jared Campasino said. “It was a great way to bring the BSU students together and bring out school spirit before the football game. I hope to see it again next year.”