Hillside Community kicked off Hillympics on Tuesday evening in the Hillside Commons.

The opening ceremony for the semester-long Olympics event offered residents free food before introducing the new program’s goals and details.

Vincenzo Asaro, a resident assistant and a senior majoring in neuroscience, said Hillside RAs met before the semester began and brainstormed ideas to build a community.

“So we actually started with one little idea of maybe organized sports and then it grew into a conglomerate of ideas using all the RAs here pitching in and eventually we came together with this idea of Hillympics,” Asaro said.

During the ceremony, RAs from each Hillside building introduced themselves and presented the plans for Hillympics to the 20 students who attended.

The RAs plan on organizing various sporting events throughout the semester, including basketball and volleyball events. There will also be non-sporting events, such as a cake decorating contest and a painting contest.

Hillside residents will support their building at the events instead of forming their own teams among friends. In order to encourage high turnout and the possibility of starting a Hillside tradition, residents can gain points for their building by attending events.

The first competition is based on team spirit and students will design banners and logos for their teams, according to Kaitlin Voellinger, a Hillside RA.

“It would be making something, decorating t-shirts, decorating bandanas,” said Voellinger, a junior studying under the individualized major program.

William Pargh, a senior majoring in mathematics, said he was excited about the future sporting events.

“I saw a flyer and I was like, ‘I clearly have to do that,’” Pargh said. “I’m really excited and hopefully there’s a lot of sporting events that I can participate in, so I don’t just sit in my room and hate myself all day.”

Daniella Jimenez, a Hillside RA and junior double-majoring in neuroscience and Japanese, said the event exceeded her expectations.

“I think the opening ceremony went really well, especially considering everybody’s expectations of how it was going to go and how it started off there for that first five minutes, of fear and sadness,” Jimenez said. “Many people are really interested and really excited to see how this goes.”

Jimenez is confident that the Hillympics will continue on as a Hillside tradition past this semester.

“We have a good group of RAs here,” Jimenez said. “People don’t want to just hide in their apartments and do nothing. I think people are ready to start getting to know one another outside of their apartment.”