On a campus better known for seminar tables than end zones, Super Bowl LX brought students together for wings, questionable team loyalties and a rowdy celebration, liberal arts style. On Sunday, students gathered in Peirce Hall’s New Side to eat, celebrate and watch the big game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. The Office of Student Engagement hosted a Super Bowl watch party that featured a giant inflatable two-sided screen with the game projected onto it.
The dining hall was adorned with Super Bowl decorations. The servery was decked out with balloons and various football-shaped items. AVI prepared some classic Super Bowl foods like chicken wings, nachos, charcuterie, hot pretzels and popcorn. Attendees could signal their team allegiances by enjoying cupcakes with frosting correlated to each team’s colors, along with themed drinks: New England Spritzers and Seattle Mojito Mocktails.
“I think it’s sweet when Kenyon goes the extra mile to celebrate what’s a big day to some or to make an ordinary day feel festive to those whose lives are relatively unaffected by something like the Super Bowl,” one attendee, Margot Manning ’28, said in a message to the Collegian. “I may not be totally invested in the big game, but I love pretzel bites!”
The game ended with a score of 29-13, with the Seahawks taking home the coveted Vince Lombardi Trophy. The Collegian’s editor-in-chief, Sacha Franjola ’26, had a shockingly close prediction in last week’s issue: “Seahawks 28-14.” Kenyon Seattleites were incredibly happy with the win, as the Seahawks’ only previous Super Bowl win was over 10 years ago, in 2014.
“I have never felt more proud to be from Seattle since coming to Kenyon,” Daisy Lerner ’27 wrote in a message to the Collegian. “People would ask me who I was rooting for, and after I said I was from Seattle, they would say, ‘Oh, so this is important to you.’ Little do they know I haven’t watched a full football game since the last time the Seahawks won the Super Bowl.”
Nate Oliveira ’27, another Seattleite, echoed this sentiment. “I’ve been a fan of the Seahawks since I was born, and the team has always felt so important to the city of Seattle,” they wrote in a message to the Collegian. “Watching them win on Sunday was absolutely surreal, and I feel like they really proved how talented a group they are to a national audience.”
While students from New England were not as happy with Sunday’s results, the watch party still provided an opportunity for friends to come together.
Nina Nicoletti ’28 hosted a watch party with her women’s soccer teammates. “I loved being able to get a group together to watch the Super Bowl,” she shared in a message to the Collegian. “The group had mixed feelings about the result and how the teams played, but overall, it was a great way to bond with my friends!”
Other students didn’t care as much for the sport itself, but rather the halftime performance starring Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny. “The halftime show was spectacular,” Addison Shafley ’28 wrote in an email to the Collegian. “As a political science major and Spanish minor, I was enthralled,” she commented. “The days following his halftime show, I read up on Op-Eds and tried to better understand the public’s reaction. With my housemate, I attempted to translate his speech. I also found myself actively trying to translate his music more in my free time.”
“This win goes out to the Seattle Mariners for almost making it last season and to the Seattle Storm, who have fallen from grace. This Seahawks win will bring back Seattle sports,” Lerner concluded. “Go M’s. Everyone, go listen to Sir-Mix-A-Lot and drink coffee in the rain.”