Sophomore Avis Harden bids on a date during Wednesday’s Mustang Roper Date Auction held in the Hughes-Trigg Commons.
SMU’s Mustang Ropers, a campus spirit organization, held its second annual date auction Wednesday to raise funds. The group consists of about 25 SMU students and is responsible for planning and hosting pep rallies and raising school spirit for SMU athletics.
Keisha Cole, a junior sociology major, says that the organization serves to “help the morale of the players and to let them know [the students] support them whether they win or lose.”
As a first-year general member, she believes school spirit has increased since she first arrived at SMU.
The Ropers’ held their “Lasso-A-Mustang” date auction with hopes to raise more funds to travel to Rice next semester to support the SMU Basketball team. This semester they traveled to the University of North Texas to support the Mustang Football program. Students gathered in the commons of Hughes-Trigg as athletes from various varsity teams went on stage, introduced themselves and answered questions like “what is the sweetest thing you have ever done for a girl?” or “what is your idea of a romantic evening?”
Attending students and athletes cheered and chuckled while enjoying food and beverages as the “dates to be” went on stage one by one. In the past, the student group has focused on building school spirit for the football and basketball programs, but this year it has extended its efforts to the men’s and women’s soccer teams, as well as volleyball. Sophomore advertising major and starting center defensive player for the women’s soccer team Carley Phillips was auctioned off.
She said, “part of being an athlete is supporting the people who support us.” Although she was a little embarrassed to get on stage and explain why someone should bid on her, she felt it served a great cause. SMU Pom Squad Co-captain Emily White agreed with Phillips that the auction served a great purpose. “This auction was a great way to raise money for the Mustang Ropers, and it is awesome to see this group so dedicated to encouraging students to have school spirit for our athletic teams,” she said. Lauren Driskell, senior psychology major and president of Mustang Ropers, was very pleased with the results of yesterday’s auction, calling it “mutually beneficial” for the organization and the players.
“We want to introduce the SMU community to the key players…and try to bring school spirit up a notch,” she said. Junior economics major and Ropers Vice President Marcel Northington emphasized the importance of the SMU community coming out to support all sports teams.
“We are dedicated to promoting SMU athletics on campus and getting more people to come to the games,” he said.
