Northern Michigan University Recreational Sports will host their first Zombie Survival Week. It will take place Sunday Oct. 26 to Thursday Oct. 30 at the PEIF.
The event is free, but all participants must have PEIF memberships and registration is required prior to the event. Participants have the option of registering individually or in teams of two or four. Participants can sign up for as many events as they wish.
This is one of the many events Katie Theut, Fitness and Informal Recreational Manager has created to showcase all of the fun opportunities the PEIF has to offer. She first came up with the concept during a conference in Tennessee.
Theut said a zombie theme would be fun and relate to popular trends.
“I think there is a zombie fad right now,” Theut said. “From movies like ‘Dawn of the Dead’ to television dramas like ‘The Walking Dead,’ a zombie craze has introduced itself into our popular culture.”
On the first day of Zombie Survival Week participants will be given a bag. The bag will be used to hold the collected prizes received upon completion of the tasks each day. Prizes include: a whistle, a compass, glow sticks and other tools for apocalypse survival. The more events participants enter the more they can build their survival kit.
“I think it is a great thing because zombies are so popular right now,” Megan Crowder said, senior public relations intern for the NMU athletic department.
The events will test students’ physical skills and mental ability in order to determine survival in a zombie apocalypse. Challenges will be held at multiple PEIF locations such as the rock climbing wall and the pool. Specific events include a cardboard canoe race, swimming relay, zombie dodge ball, crossfit challenge, rock wall race, zombie maze and black light Zumba. All events are run by student employees.
Theut did a practice run of making a cardboard and duct tape canoe saying it was incredibly intense. She added, “It made me realize that I probably would not survive an apocalypse.”
Senior public relations major Mary Catherine Hudock and intern for NMU athletic department said she is excited to participate in the black light Zumba.
This event allows the PEIF to show all the activities members can do.
“The event highlights all the activities that we (PEIF) have to offer,” Theut said.
It is a great opportunity to get involved and meet others on campus, according to Theut.
“It’s something different and fun to participate at the PEIF. The more participation we get the more events we can have,” Crowder said.
Theut is hoping to get 15 to 20 people for each activity. According to Theut, other universities had upwards of 4,000 participants for similar events.
Are you ready to take on the challenge to survive the zombie apocalypse? For more information call NMU Rec Sports at (906) 277-2519 or join the Zombie Survival Week Facebook page.
