Organizers expect more than 1,600 people from 40 teams to participate in the 2002 MIT Johnson Games on Saturday, Sept. 28 at 1:50 p.m.
Sponsored by the Offices of the President, Provost and Chancellor, this year's games are honoring the new graduate residence hall at 70 Pacific St.
"The Johnson Games were founded in 1988 to promote friendship, community and team spirit on the MIT campus," said event organizer Gayle Gallagher, director of conference services, events and the Information Center. "We thought a good-natured competition would be an excellent way for students, faculty and staff to come together and celebrate the opening of the Institute's newest graduate residence." The new residence houses about 700 graduate students.
Each Johnson Game team has approximately 40 members composed of 40 percent students and 30 percent faculty and staff. At least one-third of the active participants must be from a core group, such as a department or living group. The creatively named teams and their core groups include CCRRunch! (the Committee on Campus Race Relations), Caliente (La Union Chicana por Aztlan), the New-Tang Clan (Tang Hall), the DeTerminators (the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy), the Packed Bed Operators (chemical engineering), and Show Me the Money (the Office of the Treasurer).
A list of registered teams is available online.
Teams are challenged with both physical and mental activities, although the specific events are kept secret until game day.
Awards are presented in a variety of categories with team spirit and effort weighted heavily in the judges' determination of overall best team.
The day starts with team captain and volunteer orientation meetings at 11:30 a.m. at Steinbrenner Stadium. There will be public tours of 70 Pacific St. starting from the lobby from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. The opening ceremony is at 1:50 p.m. (the games begin immediately afterwards). The post-game barbecue and awards ceremony starts at 5:30 p.m. on Kresge Oval.
In case of rain, team registration and the opening ceremony will take place as scheduled, but the games will be moved indoors to the Johnson Athletics Center and Rockwell Cage.
Some teams may have openings in their rosters for additional players. Volunteers are also needed to serve as officials. Prospective participants and volunteers should e-mail johnson-games@mit.edu for information.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on September 18, 2002.
