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Employee Picnic proves a "feud" can be fun

June 2, 2017

At the 2017 Annual Employee Picnic, Staff Council not only planned a meal to fill our stomachs, but also a game to lift our spirits. Teams of employees faced off to determine the top answers on the board in a friendly game of Family Feud.

The stage was set in Carter Hall and was decorated in the style of the popular game show. Tables had free playing cards for guests to take and were creatively decorated in themes of popular board games and game shows.

Those who weren't on stage played along with co-workers, guessing answers in-between bites of fried chicken and dinner rolls.

Dr. Melinda Roberts, associate professor of criminal justice, did a phenomenal job playing game show host and could probably land a time TV spot if she ever wanted to take a break from teaching criminal justice. She kept the audience entranced with her quick quips, witty retorts and fashion sense.


(Melinda Roberts - in center)

When I heard teams were being formed to play, I quickly put together mine. We pondered a team name for three days before determining we were "The Overthinkers." I quickly set about trying to strike fear in the hearts of our competition, as our team name would fail to serve this mission. When the matches were set I saw we were facing the formidable, Data Divas + a Dude, headed by Dr. Kat "Always Wins" Draughon. Our team gave it our best but left the stage defeated in round one.


 (The Overthinkers = Deeply overthinking answers) versus (Data Divas + a Dude = Appear calm, confident and unworried)   

Other teams gave it a good fight, but in the end, the crew who creates the University's surveys had a better hunch of what the "survey says." The Data Divas + a Dude received the grand prize of $5 million dollars in chocolate bars (five candy bars with $1 million printed on the wrapper) and a big (fake) check for $5 million (don't cash it until Tuesday.) Perhaps the biggest prize of all is bragging rights.


(Melinda Roberts presents the five "rich" chocolate bars to winners and Nita Musich, Staff Council chair, brings the "big bucks.")

Ever the gracious loser, I picked up the phone to offer my sincerest congratulations to Kat and her team and to get a quote on their win. I asked "How intimidating was it to face Angie O'Nan and the 'The Overthinkers?'"

Draughon said, "I was feeling a bit intimidated prior to the match as I received taunts from "The Overthinkers" Team who thought they could topple the Data Divas and the Dude, but we proved them wrong! Guess they really over thought their abilities to take on the level of brilliance the Data Divas + a Dude brought to the match. I'm hoping for a rematch next year!"


(L to R: The Overthinkers = Terri Bischoff, John Farless, Chris Norrick, Connie Stambush, Angie O'Nan)

I hope everyone had as much fun as we did and we extend a big thank you to Staff Council for their hard work in planning the event and collecting two large tubs of food items for Archie's Closet. We hope they do it again next year, as I'm certain other teams are also ready for a rematch against Data Divas + a Dude!


(L to R: Data Divas + a Dude = Kat Draughon, Susan Clouse, Emily Lynn, Susan Todd, Greg Johnson)

Here are the other teams who fought hard but couldn't take down the Data Divas + a Dude:


(L to R: The Trailblazers = Cesar Berrios, Pam Hopson, Sharon Burks-Maier, Candace Fairer, D'Angelo Taylor)


(L to R: Digital Dream Team = Carol Schmitt, Rick Beury, Dave Alexander,  Laurie Wilson and Jim Jones)


(L to R: RegiSTARs = Travis Dickinson, Sandy Frank, Angel Nelson, Will Pool, Tammy Johnson)


(L to R: Bamboozled = Danielle Artis, Maggie Hurm, Sara Rhoades, Lisa Sutton, Paul Davies)


(L to R: Liberal Arts Hearts = Kathy Oeth, Maria Nguyen, Kelly McBride, Candace Young, Nicole Mitchell)


(L to R: Team Awesome = Kathrine Berry, Ashley Evearitt, Laurie Berry, Juls White, Britney Orth)


(L to R: Risky Business = Mary Spahn, Darla Perigo, Linda Dillbeck, Michelle Simmons, Sudesh Mujumdar)


(L to R: The Lifesavers = Jody Delp, Phoneshia Wells, Ryan Butler, Julie Morgan, Wesley Phy)

No photos were available for the Accrual World team which consisted of Mike Cathro, Amy Henry, Kylie Wolf, Brett Williams, Dennis Guthrie.

An image gallery of the 2017 Employee Picnic and the Family Feud are linked in the scrolling banner on the Staff Council page.

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