At Northwestern, football season begins prior to the academic year. The result can be an empty student section at the first one or two home games of the season. The Northwestern Wildside, however, is trying to fix that problem.
The Wildside executive board is doing its best to bring students together behind the team, even as students are spread out across the globe. The group -– a collection of all Northwestern student supporters -– is organizing a “Social Media Watch Party” for Saturday’s game. Students can use Facebook and Twitter to support their team and engage with other Wildcat fans on gameday to simulate the atmosphere of being together.
“We hope it will be a gathering place of sorts all across the country,” Wildside president and Weinberg junior Alex Wilcox said. “We’re going to be as active as possible this Saturday on Twitter and Facebook.”
Fans are encouraged to use the hashtag “#NUvsBC” on Twitter and to post comments on the Wildside Facebook page to discuss the game throughout the day, share photos and answer trivia questions.
Medill junior Kelsey Stokes, the Wildside co-vice president of strategic planning, helped pitch the idea in the spring and has taken the lead on the project this summer.
“This is the first game of the season for us and no one is really at campus yet,” Stokes said. “We want to give everyone a similar experience to what they have at a home game.”
In order to promote the Social Media Watch Party, the Wildside will be giving away a signed No. 51 Pat Fitzgerald jersey to a student that participates.
Wilcox says that the Wildside wants to increase its presence on social media, and that this summer has been a step in the right direction. “We’ve been making a big push this summer to increase our involvement on Twitter and Facebook,” he says.
Stokes hopes that initiatives like the Social Media Watch Party and other Wildside events will rally Northwestern students around a common cause.
“We want everyone to get excited about all the games and feel pride in our school,” she said.
Wilcox wants a lot of supporters to join in on the conversation this Saturday, including freshmen that may be unfamiliar with the Wildside. But the most important result will be on the field.
“We’re happy as long as Northwestern wins,” Wilcox says. “That’s the main goal.”