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A highlight of the academic year was the inaugural ChargerBucks finale event was held at the end of the spring semester. It was a fun event for students to "cash in" the "ChargerBucks" they earned throughout the year for the chance to win some cool prizes. Created by the Office of Residential Life, the event celebrates the sense of community that is created by living in the residence halls.

Throughout this academic year, students had the opportunity to earn ChargerBucks from resident assistants, academic peer mentors, and their hall councils. ChargerBucks are like Monopoly money – with a University of New Haven spin.

If students formed study groups for classes, they could earn ChargerBucks from their academic peer mentor. Events hosted by resident assistants and hall councils often offered ChargerBucks for attending, as well as opportunities to win ChargerBucks at challenges or games that were a part of an event. Activities that promoted a greater sense of community and involvement for resident students also had ChargerBucks available.

After a long year of working hard, students attended the finale event at the end of the semester to try their luck at winning one of more than 40 raffle prizes, while enjoying refreshments and seeing Charlie the Charger show off his dance moves.

To start off the night of fun, the first students to arrive received t-shirts from the Office of Residential Life, along with the chocolate ChargerBars that everyone loves from campus tours. After that, students could enter the inflatable bank vault to try to catch one of the golden tickets flying around to win an extra door prize. Then, students could enjoy Charger-themed food and drinks as they decided which raffles to enter.

Some the of the top raffle prizes that students had their eyes on were a Nintendo Switch with Mario Kart included, a 43" Roku Smart TV, a KitchenAid Pro 5 stand mixer, along with many others.

Although not every student won something at the event, the real prizes were the friendships made, the fun times we had during the residence hall events, and the memories of a truly spectacular year. Because of this, everyone was a winner at the end of the day.

I hope you come back to campus in August ready to earn more ChargerBucks to enter the raffles at the second annual ChargerBucks Finale Event, which will be held next spring.