“Barbie arms, please. Focus. Start to sit. Three, start to sit. Two, sit a little bit more. One, sit on that lap. If you’ve got it, hands up!”
No, these aren’t the bizarre ramblings of a mixed-up, would-be cross between a theater director and a bank robber. Instead, they are the commands given by Kristen Partridge, director at the Center for Student Life and games-master at Thursday’s Crimson Chaos, during an exercise involving getting 30 people in a circle to sit on each other’s laps.
Other ice-breaking activities included finding other campers that shared your eye color, dancing with a partner back-to-back with arms linked, and grouping together by birth month.
“I wanted to get to know everyone,” Kaylie Crutcher from Weatherford, Texas said. “All my best friends are going to UT. It’s really uplifting. Everyone makes you feel comfortable. [Crimson Chaos] is probably [my favorite activity] so far. You get to meet new people. You’re not only with people from your family or your groups, you get to meet with everyone.”
Meeting other Sooners-to-be is all but unavoidable, with 512 of them crowded together on a patch of grass west of the Oklahoma Memorial Union and north of the Law Barn.
Tyler Nunley, an employee from the Center for Student Life, drove campers to Norman from Will Rogers World Airport, and said he met people from as far away as Maine and Pennsylvania.
Camp counselor Jason Quaynor also found Camp Crimson to be a meeting point for incoming freshmen from around the country, as he met campers from New York City and Newport, Calif.
This is Quaynor’s second run through the camp, but first as a counselor.
“Well, I went to Camp Crimson when I was a freshman, so basically I knew I wanted to do this again and make the same impact someone made on my life,” he said. “I’m making it happen, instead of seeing it happen. Producing the fun ... was really fun.”
Camper Blaine Shawaker confirmed the fun aspect of Thursday’s activities.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” he said. “I’ve met a lot of good people, ate, played games, tried to dance.”
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