by Ryan Wenger

Managing Editor

Branson, Mo. is a long way from Grand Rapids, but with the help of watch parties, Corner­stone University students and other community mem­bers bridged the distance last week.

The live watch parties, held in the Bernice Hansen Athletic Cen­ter, connected fans to the men’s basketball team during the final games of their successful NAIA Division II championship bid on March 14 and 15.

With free pizza and pop, trivia questions and prizes, and a live video feed of the game, Chip Huber, dean of student engage­ment, said he and other staff members did everything they could to make the events as fun as possible.

“It was almost like being at the game,” Huber said.

The parties took 25-30 vol­unteers to pull off, Huber said, including staff members and stu­dent workers from Spiritual For­mation, the athletics department and tech support.

Huber called the Tuesday night party a “blast” and said it was one of the largest and best-attended events that he has been a part of on campus. He estimated about 500 students attended Tuesday night’s party.

“That’s what I love about ath­letics – its ability to bring people together,” Huber said.

He said the events allowed the campus community to feel they were part of something and cel­ebrate together even though they were far away from the team.

The technical challenges of airing the live stream were one of the biggest obstacles to making the parties work, Huber said.

The Monday night game was a live internet feed and the cham­pionship game was aired on an obscure cable channel.

Huber credited Dave Weaver, media events technical director, and Bryan Johnston, director of information systems, with mak­ing sure the game videos worked.

The other large obstacle was the fact that the event organizers – who included Huber, Matt Haller, assistant direc­tor of student engagement , and Layne Kreh, athlet­ics department facilities direc­tor – did not know for sure whether the team would win and advance each day, Huber said. That made it tough to com­municate with the community, Huber said.