St. Thomas’ Residence Hall Association brought holiday spirit to South Campus between O’Shaughnessy and Owens Science halls Tuesday night with two live reindeer and a light show.

The reindeer, Mira and Yukon, were available for students to take photos with while the reindeer owners from Kendallville Farm were on hand to answer questions.

In order to make such an event possible on campus, RHA vice president of programming Ellen Mathiowetz said the council had to receive permission from William Carter III, Public Safety’s manager of special projects and events, and arrange the event with Kendallville Farm, a process Mathiowetz said was months in the making.

Freshman Annie Moylan said she was excited to see RHA hosting an event to unite students across campus.

“It’s just really getting the whole campus into the Christmas spirit,” Moylan said. “Reindeer are adorable, and not every day do you get to see something like that.”

RHA joined forces with the American Society of Mechanical Engineering club to amp up the event and increase foot traffic with a light show. Although this is the debut for an event with reindeer on campus, it is the third consecutive light show at the university.

Senior ASME coordinator Chris Hannigan said organizing a light show requires devoting a lot of time to the cause.

“For 30 seconds of a song, it takes four to eight hours to program … so it’s kind of ridiculous,” Hannigan said. “Just a lot of planning ahead.”

Junior Philip Smithley said having reindeer on campus provided a new experience for students.

“I was stoked,” Smithley said. “I always wanted to feel a reindeer’s antlers.”

Sean Crotty can be reached at crot0230@stthomas.edu.