Discover Week allows first-year and new transfer students to settle into the Case Western Reserve University community. It includes both informational sessions to help new students learn about the resources available to them on campus as well as social opportunities for students to get to know each other. Hosted on Aug. 25 by CWRU’s Residence Hall Association (RHA), this year’s annual Casino Night was an opportunity for CWRU students to enjoy food, fun and games while connecting or reconnecting with friends after the summer. 

Casino Night is an RHA event that has become a tradition for the CWRU community. This year, it featured food from The Jolly Scholar and Rascal House, mocktails made onsite and a wide variety of games and activities such as mechanical pig races, blackjack, poker and bingo. At the end of the night, students traded in all of the poker chips they accumulated for raffle tickets to potentially win the prize bundle of their choice, such as a weighted blanket bundle, a snack bundle or a hammock. With its formal-optional dress code, Casino Night offered students a change of pace by transforming Thwing into a more upscale venue. 

While Casino Night had many of the same activities it did the year before, its executive board for this year strove to make improvements from the previous iteration of the event. RHA Vice President of Marketing and Campus Relations, third-year Johana Guçi, pointed toward reducing crowding as one of this year’s primary goals.  

“Past years, in the atrium, there were poker tables but we moved the poker tables and blackjack tables to the Thwing Atrium,” Guçi said when asked about the changes RHA made to Casino Night from the previous year. They also improved space flow by creating a common entry and exit space for the event.

Casino Night was advertised to first-year and new transfer students as part of Discover Week, with RHA describing Casino Night as “a way to relax and enjoy your Thursday evening” in the midst of the “whirlwind” of Discover Week. First-year student Courtenay described Casino Night as a good experience.

“The blackjack was really fun”, she said, “Low-key, not super competitive.”

Casino Night also attracted upperclassmen and brought together a significant proportion of the campus community, with CampusGroups showing that 1,293 people attended. 

“The event itself is a lot of fun,” Guçi said when asked about their favorite parts of Casino Night. “I was in charge of mocktails but I also went around to the other stations.” 

If you have the opportunity to attend Casino Night in the future, I would highly recommend you check it out for a little bit of fun before you start your fall semester.