Rolls Report: Sept 25 – Buggies are Back!

Posted on | by Natalie McGuier

Aaaannnnnnnnnd we’re back, Buggy Time!

Conditions around the course this Sunday morning were mostly good; warm for rolls and the roadway remained in much the same condition that it was during Raceday. However, the inclusions of construction around the Posner building displaced CIA to the bottom of Hill one. In addition, three dumpsters on the back hills required some extra bales to be distributed and the pushers to be more awake than usual. Well, just awake anyway.

Police were not secured for the outer barricades this weekend causing all teams to contribute additional personnel to stand guard around the course.

Our new Sweepstakes chairpeople for this year have developed a rotating system of overseeing Rolls. The new chairman, Hunter Rideout, was absent this weekend, but some familiar faces were present: Elyce Milligan, last year’s Assistant Chairman, has returned as Safety Chair, at least for the Fall Semester. Joyce Chen, the SDC chair RD18, has taken the mantle of Assistant Chairman for Sweepstakes. Jasio Santillan is back running things, but we aren’t quite sure of his official position. All of them grooming are “Bonnie” for the safety chair role she will fill in the spring semester. It’s all a little unconventional, but given the breadth and depth of knowledge at the top of the hill, we predict smooth rolling.

The first Roll was scheduled for 7:00am, so the 7:10 start due to some frantic last-minute Chute sweeping was not bad at all. The delay also gave Atlas a chance to sneak in an early Roll. We started the Roll order with 9 teams present, missing only SigNu and SAE from the predicted list. Hopefully we’ll be seeing those teams later in the semester.

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The First Weekend of Rolls is Here!

Posted on | by Natalie McGuier

Welcome back to another fall semester at CMU; we are 4 weeks into the semester and students are knee deep in their first round of midterms. It’s the perfect time to bust out the Buggies! The first day of Rolls will be Sunday the 23rd, with the first buggy scheduled to hit the course at 7am. We look forward to an amazing start to all sorts of Buggy-goodness.

In other news, the BAA HQ is abuzz with activity where we are hard at work prepping some awesome things for Buggy’s 99th year. Our head of communications, Aileen, is collecting updates and articles for our fall newsletter and for the first time in a long time, our Treasurer is preparing a high level financial summary that will be put out as its own post here to give all of our member a peek behind the scenes.
And if you’re around for Family Weekend (Oct 12-14) or Homecoming (Oct 26-27) this fall, come join us at Rolls for coffee and doughnuts both weekends as well as the always fascinating History of Buggy  by Tom Wood!

The Results are In – Welcome new BAA officers!

Posted on | by ben

Thanks to the 15 of you who took the time to express your opinion, the results are unanimous! Please help me to welcome the new BAA officers for the Raceday 2019 season –

  • Jeremy Tuttle – Vice President, re-elected for second term
  • Ethan Gladding – Graphics specialist *New*
  • Rachael Schmitt – Secretary *New*
  • Will Weiner – Broadcast Coordinator *New*

I couldn’t be happier to add these names to our outstanding roster of officers, and we’ve got a number of exciting meetings already in the works for the summer. Thank you for being involved Alumni volunteers and BAA members, we would not be able to do the things we do without your time and support!

Polls are Closing – Vote then watch the 2018 Finals

Posted on | by ben

Hey YOU, have you voted for our new officers yet? No? GO DO IT NOW! https://goo.gl/forms/MLD5Y2g5LURpZ1IZ2. We’ll be closing the ballots THIS SUNDAY (June 24th), so join us as part of the BAA and have your voice heard!

Already voted? Then check out the 2018 Finals races and Exhibitions now uploaded to our Youtube, Thanks again to Connor Hayes for putting in the effort to chop up the stream into each race and of course cmuTV for their continued effort and fantastic production work.

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BAA 2018 Elections!

Posted on | by ben

Thanks to everyone that submitted nominations for our open positions this year. We have a great list of nominees for each position. All nominees have been contacted, all are excited to join the team, and we are excited to work with them!

Only one step remains, it’s time for each of you to have your voice heard and vote in our new officers. Either follow the link here, or fill out the below ballot to submit your vote! https://goo.gl/forms/MLD5Y2g5LURpZ1IZ2

Thank you for being involved in this process and we can’t wait to get started planning for the 99th year of BUGGY!

Congrats Graduates and BAA Elections!

Posted on | by ben

Now that we’ve finally been able to recover from Raceday, we here at BAA HQ have had a chance to look back on the year and make some notes for next year, but we would also love to hear your thoughts on the year, and ways we can continue to improve this sport we all love and devote our time and energy to.

First of all, CONGRATS TO ALL GRADUATES, and welcome to the CMU and Buggy Alumni family! As a special offer, all 2018 graduates are offered their first year membership for free! All you have to do is tell us who you are via this link!

Second up, it’s time for the 2018 BAA Elections. We currently only have one position up for re-election, but we are also looking to fill in some additional positions to align with our bylaws as well as a couple new positions we think would help us further the mission of the BAA. Here are a few more details

  • Vice President – Jeremy Tuttle has reached the end of his first 2-year term and is up for re election. He is automatically nominated and is interested in running for a second term. The Vice President helps manage the internal projects of the BAA, as well as assist the President as needed in discussions with CMU Staff.
  • Secretary – Listed in the BAA By-laws as the person to coordinate distribution of meeting minutes to general membership as well as handle and maintain the membership list in partnership with the treasurer.
  • Graphics Specialist – Given the increased desire we have for making awesome newsletters, guides, and engaging info, we’re looking to bring on someone specifically for this role rather than frantically seek someone out last minute.
  • General Officer – A lighter-weight new role that we’re looking to test out. We have a number of small tasks ranging from general alumni outreach, to tracking down specific information, or assisting with our numerous events throughout the year. If you’ve wanted to help out, but never thought you fit into a specific position, or you only have time sporadically, this is the perfect role for you!

You can of course also nominate for any of the other, currently filled, positions if you would like. For reference, here are the current officers:

President – Ben Matzke (Middle of second term)
Vice President – Jeremy Tuttle (End of first term)
Communications – Aileen Dinin (Middle of second term)
Reporting – Natalie McGuier (Middle of second term)
Treasurer – Bryan Arsham (Middle of first term)
Webmaster – Krishan Taylor (Middle of first term)

Lastly, since the summer has officially kicked off, the conversation has been getting going on our Discord chat, the same one we use during raceday! Feel free to jump and share your thoughts. We’ve got some discussions going around cutting up and uploading all of the missing footage from past racedays, and also updating and fleshing out our history database with awards and winners from recent and past years.

Raceday 2018 Credits and Thank You’s

Posted on | by ben

I meant to write this last week, but it turns out Raceday/Carnival hangover is real and takes longer to recover from than your typical night out. There are few people that understand how large of an endeavor it is to put on an event such as Raceday and how many different heads this hydra has grown to include over the years, yet we continue to add more every year and it could not be done without the help of some amazing people around, behind, and in front of the scenes. This is not a complete list (since such a thing is probably not possible), but is as complete as I can make it.

Here we go…

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The Finale! BAA Saturday Carnival Events

Posted on | by ben

Exhibitions and Finals Races

7:30am – 12:30pm on the buggy course | Stream live on cmuTV or listen on wrct.org

The heats have been decided, the buggies are prepped, and the pushers are warming up, it’s time to see who will reign supreme! Join us on the course or catch the stream online to cheer your favorite team to victory.

Buggy Books will be available at the BAA tent by the Finish Line for purchase or Pre-order pickup.

Lead Truck Auction winners MUST check in at the BAA tent with a signed waiver at least 1 full heat before your designated race.

Awards Ceremony

4:30pm at the Midway Stage

After the dust has settled, it’s time to hand out the hardware. Head on over the the Midway stage by the tennis courts to cheer on your team as all buggy awards are announced for Design Competition, Chairmen’s awards, and of course the Races themselves.