Laughter and joy oozed out of the Grand Ballroom, Thursday, in Sonoma State’s Student Center. Comedian’s, Jimmy Failla and Dean Imperial, brought out the best in our fellow SSU students at Text Wars, a friendly competition.

This competition allows audience members to compete against each other and try to answer the host’s questions first, via text message, for cash prizes. This financially helpful event was made possible by ASP and Mo Phillips, as part of a series of events put on throughout the first week of classes to welcome the students back for the fall 2014 academic year. ASP’s Charlie Baker stood outside the doors of the grand ballroom and invited students to come in and enjoy the event; he stated that the purpose for this was “to create a fun, easy-going, competitive event, that creates a sense of community.”

As the students filled the ballroom, they couldn’t help but to smile and look hopeful. They were all excited to try and win some cash. Fifth year student, Elizabeth Lemus commented that she “came to hang out with friends and see what the event is about because she didn’t think the event had happened before on campus.” Her friends, Tanya Acevedo and Melanie Capili, also came to support the ASP event and win cash prizes. Freshman student, Auburn, arrived to the event to win cash, along with the support of her three friends. 

One of the two funny men that hosted the show, Jimmy Failla, happens to be “…a New York City cab driver turned professional stand up comedian. He was named Best Male comic at the 2014 New York City Nightlife Awards” (“About.” Jimmyfailla.com. Interactive Blend, 2014. Web. 23 Aug. 2014.). He has also been seen on numerous television shows, such as “America’s Got Talent” and “Kelly and Michael.”

In April of 2014, he wrote his first book “Follow That Car! ‘A Cabbies Guide To Conquering Fears, Achieving Dreams, And Finding A Public Restroom.” His co-host, Dean Imperial, has made appearances on Failla’s podcast, “Off The Metter with Jimmy Failla.

Text Wars was essentially a trivia game where the audience competed for cash. In the first round, the first person to send a text to the host with the correct answer won $10 cash on the spot. After round one was over, they asked the audience to text the words “physical challenge,” the first eight people to respond were able to go up and compete in a dance-off for a cash prize of $25. 

When the time had come to decide who was the best dancer, the audience was torn because everyone had some really interesting and unique dance moves. The dance competition then turned into a twerk competition, where anyone who wanted to compete was welcomed on stage. Two female and two male students went up to compete; the two male students did not stand a chance against the two female students. 

The twerk off turned into a battle between the two female students, where only one was able to walk away with the $25 after she came down from the stage and proceeded to twerk upside down. It was too bad for the other contestant because she was so determined to win that she even provided her own twerk song. After the physical challenge, the answers were worth $20 in the second round of trivia. 

All in all the students managed to walk away with some extra cash in their pockets and a smile on their faces. One of the students even managed to walk away with a $50 gift card to Mary’s Pizza Shack.