Phi Kappa Tau Cops First Place in Winter Carnival Statue Competition

"The Incredibles" animated movie was the inspiration for Phi Kappa Tau's  winning statue in Michigan Technological University's Winter Carnival. The Hancock-based group took first in the fraternity division for their diorama that combined massive size with plenty of details sculpted in ice.

All the creations had to follow this year’s Winter Carnival theme: “Heroes and villains find their powers, in these frozen winter hours.”

For Phi Kappa Tau, windows, chains, a mailbox, baby in a high chair, and much more were all created in clear ice, accenting the large structure that showed a family working together as a team of superheroes.

Second place among the fraternities went to Tau Kappa Epsilon for their Fantastic Four-focused creation next to Michigan Tech’s Administration Building. Delta Sigma Phi took third place, and Sigma Phi Epsilon was fourth.

Within the sororities, Alpha Sigma Tau, located near Franklin Square on College Avenue, took first with a statue depicting Hercules slaying the serpent Hydra. Second place went to Theta Chi Epsilon, in front of the Van Pelt and Opie Library. Third was Alpha Gamma Delta, and fourth was Delta Zeta.

In the residence halls division, Summit/WIE took first, with Mama’s Boys runners-up. Air Force ROTC bested Army ROTC in the student organization division.

Groups also competed in the One-Nighter division, beginning their sculpting at 4 p.m. Wednesday and finishing at 8 a.m. Thursday, the same deadline as the month-long statues.

FYE-Wads took first in the Residence Hall group, NAHB in the on-campus category, and Evangel Baptist in the off-campus contestants.

Temperatures in the teens most of the night made for more-pleasant construction conditions than have been experienced in the past. The students were resting this morning before partaking in all of the rest of Carnival activities.

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.