Hubbelling, Drake University’s annual student sledding tradition, took place in the Olmsted Breezeway Feb. 6 to accommodate the day’s warmer weather.
The tradition was named after the Hubbell Dining Hall food trays students would use to sled down the hill by Quad Creek, typically following the first snow of the spring semester. The Student Alumni Association estimates that students began the tradition around the 1970s.
The once-informal event has since been adapted for modern times. While the plastic trays are no longer used in the dining hall, the University has preserved them for the sake of Hubbelling.
SAA provides students with the old trays when the event is held outside. Hubbelling and other campus traditions are now hosted by the SAA since the organization’s inception in 2007, according to SAA President Will Kloos.
“[Sledding] kind of comes off as childish to some people,” said Kloos. “But in my opinion, one of the biggest differences between high school and college is that college is a lot more of, ‘You’re not too cool for anything,’ … I think that’s something that kind of makes Drake special.”
While there was no snow to sled on, passersby could instead throw fake snowballs onto trays or create snowball-like stress balls by adding a snow-like mixture of baking powder and conditioner into balloons. Hot chocolate was served as per usual for the event. Around 40 people attended the event, including Griff II.
María José Del Valle Laureano, SAA’s co-vice president of traditions, volunteered during welcome weekend in the first semester to help fellow first-years accommodate. She said campus events can boost student morale when returning from breaks.
“Since we have such a long break, coming back again to the winter, it’s kind of a bit hard [to have high morale],” said Del Valle Laureano, “ I like our activity of Hubbelling because it’s so recent to the start of the spring semester. … It’s a nice event for people to be here, instead of in the dorms.”
Del Valle Laureano explained in a follow-up email that she and fellow SAA member Charlie Mineart initially planned the event for Jan. 30 with Feb. 6 as a backup date. Still, the forecast predicted neither date would have snow. SAA held their Hubbelling event indoors to honor the snowy tradition.
SAA’s mission statement highlights the organization’s focus on engaging students in campus traditions and values, cultivating philanthropy and creating networking opportunities for current students and alumni.
The organization recognizes and organizes four campus traditions: Kissing Rock, Hubbelling, the Emmenecker Challenge and the Everybody Eats Mile. The association also hosts a scavenger hunt on welcome weekend for students to learn about Drake student traditions.
Charlie Mineart, the co-vice president of traditions, said that SAA traditions are opportunities for students to connect to campus life, meet peers and honor history.
“[Traditions] keep us connected to our past and the people that did things to get us to where we are today,” Mineart said, “And I think that’s just really important to honor those things. And it’s a great way to get students involved.”
Drake is honoring old traditions while starting new ones. Feb. 2 marked Drake’s first annual Griff-Hog ceremony to predict the weather of the 2026 Drake Relays, which, while not run by SAA, will become an annual event.
“For me, I’m always looking at — what’s our next tradition?” Mineart said. “Because things change over time so much. So it’s amazing to see traditions stay for so long and that people like them and want to keep doing them, but also looking to the future of what could be the potential new tradition.”
