I got a certain sense of satisfaction as I walked excitedly past the never-ending line of spectators waiting to enter the Bryce Jordan Center on my way to my first ever THON. Not only is it my first THON, this was my first ever shift as a Rules & Regulations committee member.

I met my committee in the upper bowl of the BJC as we waited together to start guarding doors, portals, hallways, and the like. After all forty members of my committee arrived and shoved our belongings into two giant trash bags, we traded our Penn State ID’s for on-shift badges and were ready to enforce every rule we remembered.

The first spot I guarded was a door to a kitchen, and I think I was also supposed to guard the hallway next to it, but I mainly focused on the door. I can’t do everything, people! A total of one person entered my door during my shift and he was presumably a chef based on his apparel. My partner and I used quick judgment and let him pass.

Since my door was not very active I used my time to master throwing a tennis ball (which I have already lost) to the other thirteen R&R members guarding places within a 30-foot radius of me. Don’t let that make you think I was slacking off though, because I was also looking for drunk people and analyzing the overall committee outfits every time one of them passed. Two thumbs up to Will Martin, because he was rocking the tracksuit.

Next, I moved to the dance floor to be part of the human tunnel where I happily gave high fives to the dancers and various morale captains that passed through. The pure energy in the human tunnel was tangible. Some people were taking videos as they came through which I’m sure will turn out amazingly.

Then I took a spot against the wall, where I was supposed to stop people from passing beach balls from the stands to the floor, which was a surprisingly hard task, but I think I rose to the occasion very well (I stopped zero balls from being thrown from the stands to the floor). I’ll get them next time.

My final spot was in front of the stage as the dancers learned the line dance. I’m not exactly sure what my responsibilities were supposed to be at that point, so if I had any, I didn’t perform them. I mainly tried (and failed) to learn the line dance.

What I took from my first shift as a Rules & Regulations committee member is that although I was told about my duties and possible situations I would be in (like a dancer fainting or coming across a drunk person), it was uneventful but still somehow thrilling. However, I know that it was only the beginning, and as THON goes on, I’ll probably come across some interesting situations. Until then, I plan on getting really good at all kinds of yo-yo tricks which I’m sure will impress somebody at some point in my life.