FreezeFest organizer gears up to celebrate winter

Troy Ramiscal, a fourth-year new media design major from Downingtown, Pa., is director of the College Activities Board, a student-led organization that provides a wide assortment of events for students, often with campus partners from across the RIT community. This includes providing programming for FreezeFest, a Campus Life-sponsored event offering more than two dozen activities from Jan. 25-Feb. 7.

What is your role with CAB and FreezeFest?

I oversee all of CAB’s event planning preparations with all the major weekend events, as well as FreezeFest. They are all unique in their own right. We try to keep it fresh every year so students can look forward to it and not think it will be exactly the same every year. This year, there will be a lot of collaborations with different departments within RIT. To  get more students to come out to campus games, we have two events to raise awareness, kicking off with men’s hockey vs. Niagara on Jan. 24, and we’ll have a FreezeFest Tiger Den for the men’s and women’s basketball games on Jan. 31, giving away free merchandise with the new FreezeFest logo.

What are some of the other events planned?

At random times and events, we’ll give out free swag such as socks, scarfs, T-shirts, and cups, and we’ll have plush Roarie (winter mascot) toys. We have a large Olympic-themed event in the Gordon Field House where clubs will host some fun and friendly games and tabling events. Students will visit them to collect points during an opening ceremony. We’ll have sports themes and simulated snowboarding and giant hamsterball racing. And of course we’ll have our ice sculpture on the Quarter Mile. We’ll have skiing and snowboarding at Swain Mountain, a winter village with DIY snow globes and therapy dogs, and a performance with figure skaters. And we’ll have plenty of indoor events such as a pajama party put on by Health Promotion, and have hot chocolate and karaoke put on by the ALANA Collegiate Association for those who want to keep warm and cozy. Most of the events will be free.

What do you hope students will come away with if they attend an event?

I hope students will see winter as one of their favorite seasons at RIT. I think the college academic year is so busy— the four years I’ve been here have gone by so fast. We want people to look forward to it, go to events with their friends and make new friends, and have fond memories long after they leave RIT. I’m proud of the teams in CAB for all of the work we’ve put into this and I’m excited for the students to be a part of this.

What are your other hobbies and interests?

On campus, I joined the New Media Club, Figma Campus Leaders, the Honors Program, and intramural volleyball. I’m really into reading, painting, and dancing. I like to read one or two books a month. Growing up, I loved reading, mostly cheesy love stories. I like a good book with a happy ending. I also really am into hiking and being out in nature. Being active puts me in a good mood. And I enjoy visiting museums. I’ve collected brochures from all the museums I’ve been to.

Why did you choose to attend RIT?

I applied to several colleges and felt I had so many different interests and wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. When it came to decision time, new media design seemed to be a good fit for me. It combined a lot of discipline, art and design, and allowed me to take so many other cool subjects, such as intro into computer science class, so that satisfied the other interests that I had. I also did three co-ops and just came back from study abroad over winter break in South Korea. After graduation, I’m hoping to do something to combine all the things I love about my major and my organizational work with CAB. I feel I can explore my options and could end up anywhere.