On Tuesday, September 17, Stockton Entertainment Team (S.E.T.) sponsored an event called Silent Library. In accordance with the popular television show, the objective of the game remained the same: do not laugh, regardless of whatever ridiculous activity a teammate may undertake. When my best friend and I arrived at the event, we had no intention of actually playing the game—we consider ourselves viewers, not doers—however, we promptly learned all who attend must participate. In retrospect, I am thankful for this rule.

Lacking four more people to round off our team, I quickly called another friend I had made during Welcome Week. He was conveniently with three others, so I instructed them all to run like the wind down to the event room! Upon our entrance, we were greeted by the always friendly members of S.E.T., and they told us to help ourselves to frozen yogurt and fresh fruit. After loading up our bowls, we sat down and waited for the games to begin.

While our team anxiously anticipated our turn, we witnessed unlucky participants dancing in tutus and being subjected to pie-eating contests. Alas, it was our turn! We were the last team to go, and perhaps I am biased, but I believe we had the worst challenges. For one of the challenges, we had to play leap frog. This does not sound too embarrassing until factoring in being watched by a crowd and jumping over the heads of people met less than an hour ago. While we did laugh quite a bit during this challenge, our team was deemed successful and moved on to the next round. The final challenge was to have one person apply lipstick to each teammate’s face while blind-folded. Though I did not know the boy selected for this challenge before that night, we got acquainted pretty quickly as he stroked my face trying to find my lips. Despite his best efforts, he somehow always ended up drawing on either the chin or neck. Our team obviously lost this round.

In the end, all the humiliation was worth it because we were given prizes: a beach ball, lip balm, and a cell phone holder. A more important prize is the new friendships that were formed in the process of embarrassing ourselves. I applaud S.E.T. for helping people step out of their comfort zones. I certainly benefited from attending this event. I made new friends and was given the chance to let loose and be silly.