Stein Clubs Build Up to ’Fest

The College Events Board (CEB) will be co-hosting special Stein Clubs in each of the Houses next month with the House Committees (HoCos), the College announced Wednesday.

The 12-part “Pimp Yo’ Stein Club” series—featuring professional trivia, karaoke, “Dance Dance Revolution” (DDR), and food from Harvard Square restaurants—will culminate in Yardfest, an outdoor concert and carnival scheduled for April 28, Campus Life Fellow John T. Drake ’06 said.

CEB President Adam Goldenberg ’08 added that the series has been a “real collaborative effort” between the board and HoCos.

Drake said yesterday that the project “seemed like a really good way to bring a lot of added value to House life and make it even more fun, and the Houses seemed excited about it.”

Kirkland HoCo Chair Anna M. F. McCallie ’08 said she and the other chairs first heard about the planned series a month ago in an e-mail from the CEB and Drake.

“The CEB wanted to ‘pimp’ our Stein Club, and it’s a really good idea,” McCallie said. “We usually do a karaoke Stein Club once a semester in Kirkland, but we would never have the capacity to organize ‘DDR’ or trivia.”

Other HoCo chairs agreed, saying that the CEB’s funding and involvement allowed for a bigger event than a typical Stein Club budget would allow.

According to Drake, the CEB-HoCo collaboration will increase the board’s visibility on campus.

“We’re doing this to show people...that we are making things fun,” Drake said.

One of the CEB’s main goals, McCallie added, is “to establish a real presence on campus, so they’re really going to advertise these [Stein Clubs] heavily.”

But the task, Drake said, isn’t a simple one.

“This is no small feat to do 12 events in three weeks, so people should be psyched about the amount of fun we are bringing to each House,” he said. “We hope the newly housed freshmen choose to come out and enjoy these events as well.”

Goldenberg, who is also a Crimson editor, said that the CEB will use the Stein Club series to advertise for Yardfest.

“We’ll be having a lot of Yardfest-related prizes and giveaways,” he said.

Although Drake and the CEB have chosen the Yardfest musical performer, the announcement will not come until the week after spring break, Drake said.

Last year’s Yardfest, headlined by Ben Folds, drew more than 7,000 people, making it the largest gathering of undergraduates in Harvard Yard’s history.

—Staff writer Aditi Banga can be reached at abanga@fas.harvard.edu.