January 18, 2014 was Campbell University’s first ever Desert Dive where about 40 students jumped into a thirty-six degree pool at Keith Hills Country Club. As the students waited for the go, students shivered as the cold pool awaited their entrance. Many girls who were there, did it primarily for the t-shirt. Olivia Brown said that one day she wants to be able tell her kids that she got an awesome t-shirt from jumping in a freezing pool. The boys who were there were divided on their reasoning for jumping. Elijah Thigpen would have done it even if there was no shirt given, he wanted the bragging rights. However, other boys like Greg Hensley did it for the t-shirt.
CAB let groups as big as five go in at a time and to get the shirt you had to submerge yourself. The first two to go in were Jonathan Boggs and Nick and as they quickly got out dashing for their towels, everyone else became nervous of the pool.
Because CAB had extra shirts, students were allowed to jump twice to get two shirts. The real brave souls who did this were Blake Gelderman and Nehemiah Allen who swam across the pool both times that they jumped. They , and others who jumped in twice, said that the first time wasn’t too bad, but the second time was brutal.
There were students who came just as moral support or to watch and cringe or laugh at those who would scream as they came up for air after plunging into the pool. After a week of being sick, Caroline Spicer said that she came in hopes that the jumpers would get sick from the cold water.
It was a successful event this year and the question is, if CAB decides to make this an annual event, will you do it next year?
Written by: Hannah Gooding
PineBurr Blog 