Women react to taking charge at Nikdag
Bethel University’s annual Nikdag tradition leaves a trail of nervous men
By Olivia Johnson, Halle Marr, Peyton Witze | Royal Report
PSEO student Mackenzie Van Loh will not be able to make it to Bethel’s annual Nikdag events. Nikdag will be taking place April 24–25.
“(Nikdag) is a Bethel tradition where the girls go to ask the guys, and it’s the opposite of Gadkin,” Van Loh said.
Although she has a track meet on Saturday but could make it to the other events, Van Loh hasn’t put a lot of thought into a potential Nikdag date.
Freshman Nursing major Ellie Tiegs had advice for those attending Nikdag.
“It’s only awkward if you make it awkward. If you make it comfortable, you’ll be good,” Tiegs said.
She also encouraged girls to ask someone they already know well so the weekend will be fun and not awkward. Tiegs also reminisced aboutwhat Nikdag was like for Bethel students long ago.
“I know people who went to Bethel years ago and they still talk about it,” Tiegs said. “They said it was different though, like they would call from the lobby instead of going to the floor.”
Sophomore Haley Gibbs, a social work major, always attends Nikdag events — but she’s not ready for marriage.
“I’m not looking for that ring by spring, sorry,” Gibbs said.
She cautioned Nikdag attendees against going as anything more than friends, and warns that relationship expectations can be dangerous.
Junior Tori Sundholm, an English literature and journalism major at Bethel, has never been to Nikdag.
“I think it’s childish,” Sundholm said. “Because the events are always like, ‘Let’s go to the play land’ and that’s not really fun to me.”
During her years at Bethel, Sundholm has been in a realtionship with a non-Bethel student and does not feel the need to ask him to Nikdag.
“They could make it cooler I guess,” Sundholm said. “If I planned Nikdag, I would put a concert in or something like that,” If she were in charge of Nikdag, Sundholm says she would try to bring Jay-Z to Bethel for a concert.
“Maybe they could improve the WiFi with that money [they use for Nikdag],” Sundholm said.
Angela Pascarella, a senior studying business, has a strong opinion about Nikdag.
“Events like Gadkin and Nikdag puts pressures on the Bethel culture to promote the whole ring by spring thing. The next step for me outside of Bethel is to pursue my career. … The whole ‘ring by spring’ thing is great for some people but honestly, some of us have other priorities like careers.”
She went on to talk about how, as a senior, most upperclassmen are growing up and less interested in participating in events like Gadkin and Nikdag.
“It’s more of a maturity thing,” Pascarella said. “I would like to say I am able to come up with my own ideas. I mean, I’ve asked guys out on dates before.”
For more thoughts on Nikdag, check out Royal Reports Thoughts from the Bubble video here.
