BYUSA encouraged students to get out of their comfort zone by providing them with giant inflatable hamster balls.
“Come live your dream,” said Abraham Kim, an emcee at the event. “Become a hamster.”
It is called a blender event, and BYUSA is hosting one each month. Last month, they hosted a giant game of Twister. This month they simulated another natural disaster.
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Students climbed into the inflated balls through a small hole in the ball. The balls had about two feet of air cushioning the inside. Once in, students could run or crawl around inside like a hamster … until they got pushed. Then the students went flying. There were two zorbing balls at the event. One was individual and was completely open inside. The other was for two people, each strapped to the side, so they couldn’t move their torsos.
The goal of the activity is to show people that BYU has more to offer than just classes.
“We want people to see all that BYU has to offer,” said Cara Christensen, a sophomore public relations major from Portland, Ore., who helped come up with the idea of zorbing. “We want to get people thinking outside themselves. We want them to take a second glance or do things outside of their comfort zone.”
[/media-credit]BYUSA feels many students only come to campus for class. They walk from class to class and never see what else BYU offers.
“It is a way to wake people up,” said Brandon Fielding, a junior psychology major from Vancouver, Wash., who helped plan the event. “People walk past this and ask what is going on. It’s a way to get people to stop and see what is going on.”
One participant had an interesting idea.
“They should give us free reign on campus,” said Andrew Nickel, a junior majoring in computer science from Bluffton, S.C. “Everyone should get zorbs to get around campus.”
