Madeline Brooks
palmettoreport@gmail.com

(Rock Hill, S.C.) — A “Jeopardy” style game based on the popular movie “Mean Girls” was held at Winthrop University April 8, in an effort to draw attention to issues young women face and help students relax before final exams.

Four students competed in the event, which featured questions based on the 2004 film and offered a Starbucks gift card to the winner, as an audience cheered on the participants.

The game was organized by the student organization Plain Jane, as part of a week of events the group holds annually to promote women’s issues.

“It’s an all-female student organization where we uplift and empower other females on campus through different activities and community service,” said Deminique Quinones, developmental chair of the group.

Quinones, a junior integrated marketing communications major, said Plain Jane chose the movie because they felt it carried many themes, such as bullying and insecurity, which college students can relate to.

Halia Julian, who won the game, said she didn’t know about the event in advance, so she didn’t prepare.

“Honestly, I was actually doing my homework, I didn’t know anything about it, but my friend told me about it,” she said. “I didn’t expect to win.

The group also chose “Mean Girls” in hopes of attracting more women to the organization.

“(Tuesday) is going to be our ‘Burn Book‘ event during common time, so we’ll be tabling and people can come up to the table and write sticky notes about mean things that people have either said about them or things that they have heard; and we plan to just tear them up, kind of like getting rid of the negativity,” she said.

Another event during Plain Jane week, inspired by the film’s popular line “on Wednesdays we wear pink,” encouraged students to wear purple for victims of domestic violence.

Quinones said she hoped students who attended the event were able to use the game as a way to “destress” during the last weeks of school.

Julian, a mass communication major, said the game helped take her mind off of school.

“I was actually stressed about presentations and stuff, so this actually helped get a lot off my chest,” she said.

Plain Jane has been a sanctioned student group at Winthrop since 2012.