Work hard, play hard. It’s a mantra you’ll hear over and over at Fuqua. Luckily for us, it’s not just a mantra, but a true philosophy by which Fuqua students live. So it’s no surprise that recently, a group of us went to Frankie’s Fun Park for a day of fun and merriment. And this day was at no cost to us, it was sponsored by the MMS Association (students elect a student government, the MMSA, to represent the class throughout the year, and any MMSer is eligible to run for a position).

As soon as I arrived, I met up with Mike — our MMSA Activities and Social Chair. Mike has also arranged other awesome activities for us such as a ski trip to Wintergreen and the MMS Campout for Duke basketball tickets. Mike gave everyone a Frankie’s fun card that got us into any 3 attractions that we wanted to try.

Fun & Games

First stop? Laser tag. We divided our group evenly between Red and Green team members. Then, after a little bit of menacing trash talk, we got outfitted to play. We were equipped with light-up vests and guns, brandishing our team’s colors. The goal? To shoot the opposing team’s target to gain points, while defending your own target. This sounds relatively simple — until you realize that you have to defend yourself from being “shot” too. Oh, did I mention this is all in the dark?

To my dismay, my team — the Red Team — lost. And surprisingly, I placed fourth out of my team with a score of about 30,000 points. I was pretty proud of myself … until I saw that the MVP of the Green Team scored over 100,000 points.

Afterwards, we made our way outside to the go-kart tracks. There were three tracks to choose from: beginner, road, and slick tracks. We all had a great time racing around the track, sometimes bumping into the outskirts of the track, or even each other. While there was no clear winner, it was clear that some of us are much better “drivers” than others.

Finally, we all decided that we wanted to try the ominous “Sidewinder” attraction. This is more comparable to a ride you would see at an amusement park or a state fair — intimidating in nature but completely safe and fun. Once we were all strapped into the circular base of the Sidewinder, it started swinging back and forth. The base also started twisting around. So off we went, back and forth, side to side, up and down. Some of my classmates were screaming, some were laughing, and some were just silent. But all agreed: the sidewinder was an awesome finish to a wonderful day.

As the day progressed, some students stayed around to try the other attractions at Frankie’s like arcade games and putt-putt mini golf. But I was exhausted, so I proceeded to go home and take a very well-deserved nap. I was so happy that the MMSA organized and sponsored such a fun event — it was a great break from studying, projects, and meetings!