As April has begun and we have entered into our final month of the academic year, we are reflecting on March’s Sock Madness! Designed as a spin-off of March Madness, Sock Madness is an energizing competition among URI students. The campaign was introduced by our Intramural Sports team in collaboration with our student Campus Recreation Marketing Team and proves to be a stiff competition among students. With a focus on enhancing student involvement, Sock Madness provides various opportunities for students to get involved and facilitate community building. 

Sock Madness calls students to submit pictures of their funky or favorite socks to Campus Recreation’s Instagram. Amongst the 27 submissions for this year’s competition, we are seeing a huge variety in students’ sock choices! Our students have a strong sock game, ranging from sloths to various foods, memes, and other unique designs. After receiving all of the submissions by March 17th, our Instagram page begun posting the sock submissions on our story. The stories are posted as public polls, pinning socks against each other and giving everyone the opportunity to vote for their sock of choice. Each round, a new winner emerges. As the competition goes on, fewer socks are left standing. A few socks are still in the running and these sock champions will be awarded Amazon gift cards! First place wins $100, second place receives $50, and third and fourth place winners receive $25!

A lot of thought and effort is put into this month-long campaign. Jordan Quatchak, photographer and social media personnel on the Campus Recreation Marketing Team, is a key member in putting Sock Madness into motion. When asked what goes into planning, Jordan shared that a lot of time goes into the event, and she found it challenging to seek out routes that enhance student involvement. Jordan explained, “The hardest part of this campaign is figuring out how to encourage students to take part in the campaign.” 

Another Campus Rec social media creator, Quinn Rowe, spent hours curating content to put out and boost student engagement. She and Jordan are freshmen finishing up their first year on the Marketing Team. The pair worked together frequently to boost social media engagement, while also creating informative videos and posts. Beginning the campaign planning for Sock Madness during J-term, Jordan and Quinn completed the designs for the event by February 1st. Jordan and Quinn sought out various routes to curate a campaign that incentivizes as many students as possible to take part in. The two are motivated by the campaign and its challenges. 

Posting teasers for Sock Madness as early as February, the social media team worked in advance to study algorithms and seek out popular trends. The pair worked to create TikToks to popular sounds such as “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” along with posting fliers made by our team’s graphic designers. Once the campaign began, the girls worked to create brackets and post Instagram stories with polls in a timely manner to ensure that each sock is given a fair shot. 

Sock Madness was created to foster student involvement within the URI community. Student involvement is crucial to community building and boosting well-being on a college campus. It is easy for students to partake in the event, and it proves to be fun for those who participate! Social media engagement is an important component of Campus Recreation. Getting involved stems from being exposed to different opportunities and creating connections with peers. We have the ability to appeal to students and allow for community involvement through our social media platforms. Because there is so much student engagement on Campus Rec platforms, this boosts our programs and incentivizes students to partake in Campus Rec events. Thanks to campaigns such as Sock Madness, students can easily connect with peers by just snapping a picture! 

Sock Madness is a fun campaign that is easily accessible to all students, allowing URI students to take part in a fun and simple competition! Sparking rivalry among the socks with peers rallying behind certain footwear, Sock Madness allows for student engagement in a light-hearted, yet competitive way. The winner will be crowned tomorrow, April 8th. Stay tuned to see which sock emerges victorious!

 

By Erin Mullaney
Major: Political Science 
Graduating May 2026