On October 5th, students migrated from East Street to High Street and back, mingling with friends and new people alike at Grinnell’s student-run all-day event, 10/10. The idea of 10/10 is rooted in bringing Grinnell’s community together and promoting self-governance.
“It is kind of embracing the campus culture that I came to Grinnell for, I think 10/10 is kind of a symbol of the spirit of self-government and as students we’re going to organize and throw this party, and we’re gonna have a great time,” 10/10 organizer Graham Ward `25 said.
For many students, 10/10 offers opportunities to socialize with new people in a lower-stakes social environment.
Kenya Taylor `28 said, “10/10 is really about community and I got to meet so many new people for the first time, it was so weird. [10/10] is really about having no one care, the cliques disappear. It’s like having a fun, free day. This year’s 10/10 was hot, nice and sunny, really sunny. It felt like summer, but it’s October.”
Other students shared initial worries about finding people to enjoy 10/10 festivities with but ultimately having a great time after making new friends.
Khairy Barnes `26 said, “I’d say one of my fondest memories was first year, I didn’t really know anybody who I could party with, so I was just kind of like panicking who I could just get along with, who I can make friends with. But then I was invited to this random person’s pregame, and then I just started making so many friends.”
Students also said that 10/10 also offered an opportunity to step away from the rigorous academic environment at Grinnell and enjoy the more social experiences associated with college.
Violet McCloskey `28 said, “Grinnell is known for being really exceptional and academically rigorous, 10/10 just feels like the one day where people at Grinnell get to be college students and not have the academic pressure put onto them.”
Among 10/10 events, students also shared their experiences participating in a wrestling match.
Clay Glessner `28 said, “It was good except I got headlocked. But, I did body slams … that was a plus.”
Outside of socialization, heavy drinking is one of 10/10’s notable features. This has raised concerns among student organizers and the College, who collaborated this year to offer students harm reduction support. Notably, student organizers recruited students who did not consume alcohol, called “safety dogs”, to assist students. 10/10’s student organizers also worked alongside the College to secure funding for pizza and training for student safety dogs.
Ward said, “We also were able to work with administration, specifically Ben Newhouse[associate vice president of student affairs and dean of students], to get funding for harm reduction this year, which I think made it a great 10/10 because . . . administration paid for 20 pizzas, a bunch of snacks, a bunch of water. So that was kind of where they came in. They also helped us do a training, a safety training for the safety dogs this year, just on the active bystanderism and how to keep people safe in party situations.”
Amidst student health concerns, especially referring to one situation where medical help was called outside of campus safety, Ward said this year’s 10/10 marked one of the safest in the event’s recent history. Ward further reported that all students were able to gain access to medical attention when needed and that a majority of health concerns relating to drinking were not as serious as expected.
“From my anecdotal experience of 10/10s that I have been to, as well as from remarks that I heard from campus safety officers helping people out and stuff, my impression is that this was one of the safest 10/10s, if not the safest 10/10, that we’ve had in a long time. There are always incidents where you kind of have to ask someone to leave a party. But, I think for the most part, I can say that the students needed attention, got attention, and everything was good. I think it was less serious than I expected,” Ward said.
