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Next House residents Kyle Saleeby ’17, Michael Xu ’15, and Victor Hung ’15 read the Tech as they waited to operate the trebuchet their dorm built for this year’s Water War. The annual epic battle between the east and west sides of campus is part of Residence Exploration, six days of dorm-based events designed to help freshmen choose where to live.

This year, Simmons showed up with a chariot and large Trojan duck, MacGregor brought slings, and East Campus used a water-spewing device that looked like an octopus. Next House only managed to fling about seven balloons during the 10-minute war. But “it was fun nonetheless,” says catapult designer Staly Chin ’15, who says he’d always wanted to build a siege weapon. “The west side definitely won,” he adds. “But I’m sure if you ask our friends on the east side, they would beg to differ.” In keeping with tradition, all combatants chanted “MIT! MIT! MIT!” when the battle drew to a close.