This week’s profile is on Emily Bendavid, the woman behind Alpha Sigma Alpha’s “Dodge Your ASA Off,” the sorority’s first annual slime dodgeball tournament. The event took place on November 7, 2015 on Race Lawn.
What is slime dodgeball, you ask? The tournament consisted of people signing up in teams of five competing bracket style for a coveted pair of Flyers tickets. There were two games going at a time and the winning team from each game would then move on until there were only two teams left standing. Sounds like your average sports tournament, right? Well, there was a catch: every losing team got slimed. Yup, slimed! Nickelodeon style!
Not only did people get to live out a childhood fantasy at this event, but it was also for a great cause! Dodge Your ASA Off was a fundraiser for the sorority’s official philanthropy partner, Girls on the Run (GOTR). GOTR is a physical activity based program for third through eighth grade girls. The program teaches about self-confidence through interactive lessons and fun games. “They have a curriculum; every week there’s a new topic like how to face bullying or how to feel good about yourself. They talk about that and then do running games and activities and work to complete a 5K. They do community service events each season. The basis of the program is to teach morals through running,” Emily said.
Emily’s position in ASA is campus event planning chair. “My role in the event was to organize everything and correspond with the chapter. I created a committee to plan the event and raise money for GOTR,” the 20-year-old said. Emily worked closely with the exec board and collaboratively came up with the idea of a slime dodgeball tournament. It took nearly ten months to plan the event between reserving a space, picking a time and date, and corresponding with sponsors and Event Services. This was also the first time the sorority was doing anything like this, which made the work harder but all the more worth it in the end.
When asked what the best part of organizing this event was, Emily said, “To me, it was really nice to have a community that supported us—having people show up and being there to support us and having fun and seeing everyone smile. That was the part that made me the happiest because these people came out to support Girls on the Run and the money they donated is going to go directly to help someone.”
What touched Emily most was when Colleen Kelly Howard, the executive director of the Philadelphia council for Girls on the Run, contacted her with kind words and appreciation. “She emailed me and said ‘you have no idea what you’re doing. You’re making a huge impact,’” Emily said. GOTR provides scholarships for girls, who otherwise might not have the same opportunities, to go through the program. For Emily, knowing that she was directly affecting a young girl’s life was “touching” and motivation to do better.
Wondering what the most challenging part of the event was? “Figuring out how to make the slime! We wanted it to be not too thick, not too thin and we basically did it the day of the event. We put it in this huge garbage can to stir it. We needed help stirring—we had this huge metal pole and it wasn’t easy. We needed some muscle!” Emily said.
The most important thing Emily has taken away from her position as campus event planning chair is the skill of working with people. Prior to this event, she had never worked with a committee and she learned how to delegate tasks and communicate with her team.
When she’s not changing lives, Emily, a self-proclaimed “coffee enthusiast”, loves to sip anything caffeinated. She also loves working out, and trail mix is her absolute favorite snack. She may only be a sophomore, but Emily’s already got plans for her future! “I want work for a company that allows me to travel and see different parts of the world,” the Bridgewater, N.J. native said.
Emily is a management information systems and business analytics major. She just scored her first co-op with Cigna, a global health insurance service company, in the Technology Early Career Development Program for the spring and summer. Congratulations and best of luck, Emily!
*All images from the event courtesy of Alpha Sigma Alpha Drexel University.