Independent Student Newspaper of UW Oshkosh Campuses

The Advance-Titan
Independent Student Newspaper of UW Oshkosh Campuses

The Advance-Titan
Independent Student Newspaper of UW Oshkosh Campuses

The Advance-Titan
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Rock, Paper, Scissors, Win!

Titan wins 4-day stay at men’s basketball halftime
Cassidy Johnson, Arts and Culture Editor
March 3, 2025
Courtesy of UWO Athletics — Ava Hagen faces a fellow student in the rock paper scissor championship.

Rock, paper, scissors is a classic childhood game we all know and love. Men’s basketball head coach Matt Lewis has decided to bring it back with a prize much better than bragging rights. 

This past weekend on Saturday, Feb. 22, UWO student and Bolt Pep Band member Ava Hagen won a free vacation after winning Lewis’ rock paper scissors tournament.

The rock paper scissors championship took place during the halftime of a UWO v. UW-Stout basketball game, the last game of the season.

“I was honestly pretty out of it when everything was happening,” Hagen said. “This was my third basketball half-time game that I won this semester, so I was pretty shocked.”

During halftime at each of the Titans’ final five regular season home games, Coach Lewis held a rock paper scissors tournament to give UWO students a chance to win a 4-day-stay including hotel fees and airfare, all courtesy of Lewis.

“It was a random idea that came up in January,” Lewis said. “We were trying to think of a fun way to engage students on our campus, and thought a tournament that resulted in a vacation would be really fun to try.”

Courtesy of UWO Athletics — Hagen celebrates after winning the four-day trip.

At halftime, students lined up and played 1v1, going down the line and eliminating players until it dwindled down to two, and then down to the winner.

This was repeated at the last five games in the season, with winners from each of the five games being added to the bracket. This past Saturday, they played one last time until Hagen emerged the ultimate winner.

Lewis said he and Hagen will meet soon to plan out the trip.

“Coach Lewis contacted me for the first time today,” Hagen said. “We’re scheduling a meeting for next week to talk about everything.”

Hagen will get to choose between Nashville, Tenn., Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Denver, Colo., Las Vegas, Nev. or Portland. Ore. 

Hagen said that she plans on bringing her sister, another bolt band member. 

“We’ve been chatting about it all day, and we think we’ll do Portland, Oregon,” Hagen said. “They have lots of nature, museums, cool food things and more. I’ve always wanted to visit Oregon, so I’m very excited!”

Beyond excitement, Hagen also said she was grateful for the opportunity.

“I am very shocked and grateful to coach Lewis because this is such a sweet thing to do for someone he doesn’t even know,” Hagen said. “This is all pretty crazy.” 

Lewis says he doesn’t know the future of this idea, but that he plans to continue student engagement efforts.

“Our hope is to create fun experiences for the students when they are in Kolf,” Lewis said.

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About the Contributor
Cassidy Johnson, Opinion Editor
Cassidy Johnson is the Opinion Editor for the Advance-Titan. She is a junior majoring in Communications and minoring in Multimedia Journalism and started at the A-T her sophomore year as Web Editor. After one of her comm professors posted the job to their Canvas page, she took a swing in the dark. The decision was made out of love for literature and art, and she somehow got lucky and struck gold. The A-T has allowed Johnson to hone her writing, editing, and graphic design skills and has taught her skills like page design and how to write like a journalist.  Both the skills and the connections gained from the A-T have been invaluable and will continue to be invaluable as she enters the workforce.