UNOLYMPICS!

Picture this: Daybreak. A crisp summer morning as the sun peaks over the canyon and spreads its rays over Warren college. The intensity is in the air. As the crow calls his first caw to the beckoning sun, thousands of freshman awaken from their small triple bunkbeds. Roommates elbow their ways past each other in a rushed morning to suit up and get ready for battle. Today is the day: Unolympics. Days worth of training, dance routining, and square dancing have brought UCSD’s newest freshman class to the ultimate culmination of welcome week, where endless amounts of boasting, pride-building, and trash-talking will finally have their chance to be vindicated. The moment is at hand. Today we take arms against the enemy in a battle to gain bragging rights for an entire year.

As the excitement builds, freshman, RAs and Orientation leaders gather together with their respective tribes, making final preparations before the big game. Speeches of vengeance and inspiration ricochet across the empty halls and walls of Geisel Library. This is it, Class of 2014, This is your time to shine.

Onward! The March begins, as crowds from across campus rove into the arena of battle. Donned in paint, glitter, and thematic ensemble, we march to the flow of traffic to converge at the crossing point. Cheers bounce across the concrete in the underpass, swelling into the stadium upon crossing the boundary. We are here. We are ready.

And there they are; the enemy, so contempt in their costumed outfits and debauchery. Oh so overconfident. They may have won last year, but this year is our year. This year we go for the gold. The ultimate prize embodied in the pristine structure of the golden shoe.

The trophy shines at the sidelines. Dazzling, gleaning, waiting as if mocking its competitors with the chance at grasping its coveted base and thrusting it above the crowd. There can only be one. One campeon, one dominator. One college.

Orientation Leaders await at our corner. Together our group re-assimilates, mustering our energy and mastery to make final preparations for competition. As young hearts pound, the horn marks the start of festivities. Muir college first. A well-routined and coordinated effort has us all surprised and a little bit intimidated. An orientation leader reassures us of our potential, marking us with the inspiration and confidence to hold out to our spot.

We are the final competitors. As we take the stage to ‘Shake what our mommas gave us’ we gather at the center, poses held and ready for action. Our faces full of subtle grins. We got this. And we did. We performed like never before, as though the adrenaline of the moment only served to intensify our skills. Then, as the finale approaches, and I jerk my way to the front of the stage for the final haul, something unexpected hits me.

We are having the time of our lives. This moment will be like no other in my collegiate experience. This moment, this few seconds of fun and celebration, are why I came to college. Its about bonding. Its about commradery. Its about brotherhood. And wether or not our palms make it to grasp the columns of that trophy, weve already won. For what we’ve won is greater than any simple material posession or rites. We have won with heart. And, at the end of the day, regaurdless of outcome, I just know that the people arround me, Warrenites or not will always share this moment with me.

Through endless spirit weeks, parades, Sungods, and commencements, it all started here. We are Warren College, but more importantly we are UCSD. Six colleges, one university, together united under one banner. Like childhood siblings, ready to pick a fight and mock each others' all too well known insecurities, at the end of the day, we know we would fight for one another at any cost. We are each others brother. We are each others sister. We are UCSD.

As it turned out, our results were not as superior as those of Thrugood Marshall College according to esteemed judges. No big deal. Seeing those fellow UCSD-ites in glee and exaltation was enough for any of us. We knew better than anyone, the sweat and tears that had went into their work to attain the coveted prize. It was obvious. They had earned it. And we were proud.

I know for many of you freshman out there, the Orientation and Welcome Week experience is a relatively new and unfamiliar concept as you enter into your first moments at UCSD. As an incoming freshman, I had no idea what to expect for Welcome Week, Orientation— hell the mere college experience itself seemed like a blindfolded jump. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I had never lived on my own. I had never moved in my life. For these reasons, I want all of you to know that when you have all these feelings, you are not alone, but in the majority. College is a new experience for everyone. Truth is, you never have a true idea about the liberating, exhilirating expierience of college life until you step foot on campus and make it on your own. These first moments at UCSD are a gift to all of you: fun-filled moments throughout orientaiton and welcome week that will literally be the highlight of your freshman year. I can legitimately say that my first few weeks of college were the time of my life. The peak of that time was Unolympics. The bonding experience and brotherhood instilled upon us Warren and UCSD students during this time is enthralling like no other. As a Freshman, Unolympics introduced me to the true UCSD atmoshphere, and what I love about UCSD’s six college system: the bond we share within the contexts of both college and university. Unolympics highlights the best things about UCSD, and the best things about the Freshman experience. I look forward to participate as OL, and hope you will take every opportunity to live your Orientation and Welcome Week experience to its fullest.Also, you guys KNOW we'll be reppin' that Golden Shoe. Don't miss a minute!

Your Freshman OL,

Jonathan Gomez