2008 Woodie Awards
Barbeque and they will come
Student Services Fair uses food to boost participation
Sean Campbell
Issue date: 11/7/06 Section: News
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At noon, the wind picked up, and the smoke wafted. Hot dogs and hamburgers sizzled on three commercial-grade barbeques at the Mesa Student Services Fair, which took place Oct. 10 in the main quad in front of the cafeteria.
The event had been advertised on A-frame billboards for weeks, and flyers had been hung on kiosks; but the biggest commercial for the event, it seemed, was the smoke and the smell of free barbeque.
"Free food," Tyler Steen, a Mesa football player, said. "Of course we're coming."
Although the food seemed to increase student participation, it was not the focus of the event-the focus was information. At the fair, more than 25 Mesa services set up tables and spoke with students. The event was a one-stop shop. A student could go there and, within an hour, learn about anything from free counseling to free tutoring to free money.
Cynthia Grunden, financial aid supervisor and one of the event's coordinators, said the point of the fair was to expose students to the services available at Mesa. She believed the event was successful.
"Students that came to our financial aid table were totally unaware that they can still apply for financial aid," she said. "Or, students don't know that there is special tutoring for students with disabilities. Students don't know that."
The first 500 people who participated-by asking a question at a table-received a stamp. Seven stamps, and the student could get in line for free food.
At the Extended Opportunity Programs Service table, over a hundred students had been stamped off in the first hour.
Corrine Larsen, a Mesa student working the Future Teacher's Association table, thought the free food changed the dynamic of the event.
"People are just coming up voluntarily to the table to get their thing stamped," Larsen said. "We have a chance to talk to them, instead of having to be like-YOU WANT TO BE A TEACHER?-yelling at everyone as they come by."
The Humanities Institute used Dove chocolate mini-bars to attract students, and saw more than 75 of them in the first half of the event. They advertised their next movie, "Declassified: The Taliban," playing Nov. 9 & 10, at 12:30 p.m. in G-101.
The event had been advertised on A-frame billboards for weeks, and flyers had been hung on kiosks; but the biggest commercial for the event, it seemed, was the smoke and the smell of free barbeque.
"Free food," Tyler Steen, a Mesa football player, said. "Of course we're coming."
Although the food seemed to increase student participation, it was not the focus of the event-the focus was information. At the fair, more than 25 Mesa services set up tables and spoke with students. The event was a one-stop shop. A student could go there and, within an hour, learn about anything from free counseling to free tutoring to free money.
Cynthia Grunden, financial aid supervisor and one of the event's coordinators, said the point of the fair was to expose students to the services available at Mesa. She believed the event was successful.
"Students that came to our financial aid table were totally unaware that they can still apply for financial aid," she said. "Or, students don't know that there is special tutoring for students with disabilities. Students don't know that."
The first 500 people who participated-by asking a question at a table-received a stamp. Seven stamps, and the student could get in line for free food.
At the Extended Opportunity Programs Service table, over a hundred students had been stamped off in the first hour.
Corrine Larsen, a Mesa student working the Future Teacher's Association table, thought the free food changed the dynamic of the event.
"People are just coming up voluntarily to the table to get their thing stamped," Larsen said. "We have a chance to talk to them, instead of having to be like-YOU WANT TO BE A TEACHER?-yelling at everyone as they come by."
The Humanities Institute used Dove chocolate mini-bars to attract students, and saw more than 75 of them in the first half of the event. They advertised their next movie, "Declassified: The Taliban," playing Nov. 9 & 10, at 12:30 p.m. in G-101.
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