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Jasmine Ader
Dr. Babington
CMM 251.01
26 September 2015

Bashing Watermelons for a Cause

At Spring Hill College on September 12, 2015 students gathered together on Dorn Field
as the fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha held their first philanthropy event of the year.
The philanthropy event Watermelon Bash incorporated many different activities
involving watermelon such as seed spitting and watermelon throwing. Brian Schmitt, a junior at
Spring Hill College is the Vice-President of External Affairs for Lambda Chi Alpha. Schmitt
organized this event along with other philanthropy events that help benefit the Bay Area Food
Bank. The overall goal of Watermelon Bash is to collect and donate money and canned goods
which are both donated to the Bay Area Food Bank.
A lot of planning was involved in making Watermelon Bash effective according to
Schmitt. He said it took two months to plan Watermelon Bash with the help from his Lambda
Chi Alpha chapter members. Schmitt said, I was looking forward to seeing the Spring Hill
community come together on Dorn Field to compete, raise money, and raise cans for the Bay
Area Food Bank. Hard work paid off for Lambda Chi Alpha and the Spring Hill College
community as they set a new record of 7,500 pounds of canned goods which will help 5,700
families in the Mobile area. Four sororities (Tri Delta, Delta Gamma, Sigma Kappa, and Phi Mu)
participated in Watermelon Bash along with many other groups of girls. Everyone did their best
during the competition activities like crushing watermelons and bringing in canned goods.

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Overall, there was about 170 students participating in the event and about 40 more spectators. In
total about 210 people attended the event.
To participate in Watermelon Bash the cost is $10 per person and there is a maximum of
ten people on each team. Students love this philanthropy event that has become a tradition to
Spring Hill College. Elizabeth Klein, a sophomore at Spring Hill College said, Win or lose its
still about the philanthropy. Another student Jackie Day said, I feel like theres a seed up my
nose after competing in the seed spitting contest. Many students do not participate in
Watermelon Bash but like to watch the event. One student Courtney Wagoner said, I cant wait
to do this next year! It looks like so much fun!
In the end, Schmitt said this years Watermelon Bash has been the most successful. In
total seventeen teams registered to compete in Watermelon Bash which was the most amount of
teams this Schmitts fraternity chapter. As for the future Schmitt and his fraternity brothers are
working through some ideas to continue the philanthropy that helps the Bay Area Food Bank. A
member of Lambda Chi Alpha, Patrick Steen quoted, We like to feed the hungry. Schmitt said,
I am excited to see what other ideas we can come up with as a chapter to benefit the Bay Area
Food Bank while incorporating the Spring Hill community. Not only was there watermelon for
the competition but students ate the sweet, juicy sweet summer fruit alongside pizza and a
beverage.
Philanthropy is important to Spring Hill College and the Greek life on campus.
Watermelon Bash is just one of many that Spring Hill College puts on. For example, just this past
week the sorority Tri Delta held a 5k walk across the bay for St. Judes. Around the holidays,
Student Involvement recommends students to collect canned goods for families in need. The

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fraternity Lambda Chi Alpha is supporting the Spring Hill College mission statement Forming
leaders engaged in learning faith, justice, and service for life.