Spring Fest 2012

I'm about to blog about one of the greatest Mercyhurst experiences I've ever had. 

It was more than 6 months in the making, but Spring Fest 2012 has come and gone. MSG Events Coordinator, Shannon Kissel and I have been working very hard all year planning this classic weekend-long event, and I must say, it was a total success!

One happy Laker from her Walking Taco!

This year Spring Fest was a Cinco de Mayo theme, let me give you a run down of all that went on:

It all began at 8 a.m. on Thursday morning when Shannon, Adam (next year's SAC Chair) and I took a huge van to Sam's Club to buy tons of water, Gatorade, snacks, and dressing room hospitality. After 30 cases of drinks, and the other random things, our 15 passenger van was full!

The fun really began Thursday afternoon when two huge trucks pulled into Mercyhurst University. These two trucks contained all the "magic" for our annual Spring Fest concert. We had tons of volunteers, two MSG executive boards, and two SAC executive boards, plus the production company building the stage, setting the lights, and hooking up sound. It took about four for five hours to set, and everyone was tired and sweaty when we were finished.

Friday afternoon Shannon and I planned a Walking Taco station to give out 300 free "tacos in a bag" to students who walked by in Garvey Park. They were served from a huge yellow Culinary Cab that our dining services, Parkhurst, debuted for the first time that afternoon. If you don't know what a walking taco is, it's a bag of Doritos crushed up topped with taco meat, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, and salsa. They were absolutely delicious and they students loved them!

Friday night was also the concert. Before the concert while students were loading in and between sets we had one of MU's own, DJ b-Lang, spin records for us. He was awesome and got the party going. Then we had a STOMP-like percussion group called Industrial Rhythm perform the opening slot to really pump students up for this year's headliner – Sean Kingston. When Sean Kingston took the stage, it was ridiculous. I don't think I've ever seen a Spring Fest more packed. We gave out 1500 free tickets, and we got over 95% of them back in the doors, and after letting in a few stragglers, we were at maximum capacity. I can't believe we sold out and packed in a full house! During the concert I even got to go on stage and throw out glow-sticks, sombreros, and tshirts.

Sean Kingston performing in our Mercyhurst Athletic Center

When Sean Kingston took the stage, he sang all of the songs that everyone know. These included: Fire Buring, Eenie Meenie, Like a Melody, Beautiful Girls, and Letting Go, just to name a few. He even sang a new track off of the album he is releasing shortly. It's called Back 2 Life, it features TI and Nicki Minaj and it was a hot beat! Also, another special touch was when he got a few girls to come on stage when he sang Beautiful Girls. Not going to lie, I was a little jealous that Mr. Kingston didn't ask me on stage! But that's okay, I did snag a picture with him later – just Shannon, Sean Kingston and me!

Now immediately following the concert, we have to tear down the stage we just built, load it all in the trucks, and send them on their way. This was my third year helping with the stage for Spring Fest and every year, it breaks my heart to build a stage and then rip it down only a few hours later. When everything was said and done Friday night, and the trucks were pulling away, it was about 2:30 in the morning. And we were only half way done with the weekend at the point!

Saturday afternoon was the last portion of the Spring Fest activities. We emptied out a parking lot on campus and held a Cinco de Mayo of our own. It was complete with Erie's own, The Romantic Era, DJ b-Lang for a second day (because he's that great!!!), an inflatable obstacle course, a giant dual lane slip-n-slide, photo booths, air brush tattoos, a sandy candy bar, a caricaturist, Rita's Italian Ice and a full Mexican fiesta buffet. The day activities ran from 1 to 5 p.m. and it was a great flow of students. It was wonderful to see all of these students appreciating and enjoying something that Shannon and I have worked on so hard all year. Though this was my last event (and blog) as the SAC Chair, I am honored to do it all over again next year as MSG Events Coordinator (and blog about that too!). Both the MSG and SAC boards and volunteers surprised Shannon and I with flowers at the end of the weekend, it was too sweet and I really appreciate all of the hard work everyone put into this event for me. From building the stage with our bare hands on Thursday, during the concert and stage break down on Friday, and throughout the day on Saturday, I was truly blessed to have worked with such wonderful people.

Shannon on the left and me on the right after a loooong Spring Fest weekend!

I am so honored that the Mercyhurst community keeps giving me opportunities to do things like this. I get to meet awesome people and work with a fantastic group of students on a day to day basis. I know that so many students across campus, whether they vocalize it or not, enjoy what students like me do. I promise to continue to seize each opportunity that comes my way, to give students the best time on campus as possible. Because to me, this is what it means to be a MU Laker. Carpe Diem!

Kids 'N Sibs

Whew! I feel like it was just yesterday when I last posted! This week sure flew by.

This weekend at the 'Hurst, SAC held its annual Kids 'N Sibs weekend. Kids 'N Sibs is a weekend long event where SAC holds a variety of activities on both Friday and Saturday for Mercyhurst Students to do with their siblings. Most "kids" bring "sibs" or cousins, or just friends from other schools. Older, younger, or the same age, it doesn't matter! Though you do not need a sibling to attend, in fact I, personally, am an only child and have attended this event in the past with no one to claim as my "sib."
 
It was an "Under the Sea" theme this year, on Friday night we had a treasure scavenger hunt that lead groups around campus to find clues to where the hidden treasure was. We also had under the sea creatures at a build-a-bear station and the movie "Dolphin Tale" for all to enjoy. Also, notice the Kids 'N Sibs t-shirts in the pictures below, I designed them and they were a huge hit!

My favorite though, of the whole weekend, was Saturday! Saturday was set up with more under sea fun complete with an inflatable obstacle course, a shark slide (see below), more sea creature build-a-bears, face painting, balloon animals, Chick-fil-A, cotton candy, popcorn, and to top it off... Rita's Italian Ice – Swedish FISH flavored of course! Throughout the day on Saturday, there was also chances to win 2 iPads! This was a great event and more and more students come out every year. Maybe once you're a Laker too you'll be bringing up some brothers or sisters to our Kids 'N Sibs weekend, it's always a fun time filled with tons of free stuff!

Check out some of my SAC Board, a BIG shout out to Rosemary (blonde in the front, covering her mouth) and Megan (far right/twin with the headband and jeans) for co-planning this awesome event!

This is Louie the Laker, MU's mascot sneaking some cotton candy...

Next weekend we have the final Laker Spirit Club (LSC) event of the year, it's on Friday and it's a baseball game. Then on Friday night we have a Caribbean Night that we are sponsoring with the Multicultural Center and a Jamnesty concert on Saturday night. After next weekend we have one of the biggest events of the year – Spring Fest! I know I've been mentioning it a little here and there, but I'll be sure to give you the total run down on it next week, all I can say about it for now is that it's on Cinco de Mayo and I'll be meeting Sean Kingston!

Well I'm off to finish a little Sunday night homework, talk to you next time!
- Jenna

P.S. I just wanted to take a quick moment and thank you for taking the time to read my blog, if you ever have any questions or want to know more about SAC, LSC, or MSG or anything else here at the 'Hurst, feel free to comment or shoot me an email :)

Cupcakes and CA$H!

Hello Again! Does everyone else feel the January is flying right by? I sure do!

So last weekend at the 'Hurst the Student Activities Council put on two sweeeet events. 

Friday night we had a Roommate Game Show. If roomies knew the answer to various questions about their roommate they had a chance to win $150 cash! Some of the questions were:
  

   - What color are their eyes?

The super excited winners of Cupcake Wars!

   - What's the strangest habit your roomie had?

   - What reality show would they be on?
  

Some of them were really tough! But it was hilarious to hear what someone roommates had to share, and pretty funny when they even got answers wrong. 

On Saturday night SAC hosted a Cupcake War! If you're familiar with the tv show, it was kind of similar to that. Twelve teams competed against the clock to prove their tasty treats were supreme. Winners received a snazzy certificate and, again, a cash prize!

Next weekend SAC will have a co-sponsored event with the Honors Society, Are You Smarter Than A Professor (students are actually going to compete with Mercyhurst Profs!) and a Glow-in-the-Dark Volleyball match! 

I'll let you all know how those go next week, but until then... Stay warm!

Jenna

SAC Stole Christmas!

During the first week back from a break it is always the hardest to get back into the swing of things, that's not secret. But for the first weekend back, the Student Activities Council tried to spread a little holiday cheer throughout campus. In this post, I'm going to break down what SAC has been doing the past three weeks...

Grace and Mat Franco

Friday, December 2nd 
Magician Mat Franco (see left) stunned and awed everyone in Taylor Little Theatre! I know, I know... you're probably thinking, "Seriously a magician, you're in COLLEGE aren't you?" Well Mat showed us his unique magic and comedy act. In fact, the whole SAC board, including Grace were amazed and cracking up the whole time. He was great with the crowd and really got everyone involved with his whole show. And something to ease your mind... SAC hand selects each magician/comedian/singer/performer to ensure optimum enjoyment of the students. So fear not, SAC has got your back!

Saturday, December 3rd

The polar bears were so stinkin' cute!

SAC stole Christmas. Yup! We stole it and brought it right to our Student Union. We had about 200 students show up to participate in a variety of holiday activities. The activities included: watching ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas Count Down, eating Christmas cookies, drinking hot chocolate, making personalized stockings, building gingerbread houses, decorating ornaments, and the best thing at the event... stuffing your very own build-a-bear! Students lined up more than an hour before the event to ensure that they got the bear they wanted. It was a fantastic event that really kicked off the holiday season right.


Friday, December 9th
The Student Activities Council paired up with the Laker Spirit Club (LSC) to deck the halls at the Men's Club Hockey game. At the Ice Rink we supplied students with free t-shirts with LSC's winter schedule of athletic events, Santa hats, jingle bells, and all the sugar cookies and hot chocolate a little Laker could eat! After the hockey game, we opened the ice for an open skate. We rented out skates, turned on some tunes, and let students skate the night away until midnight. So many students showed up in the typical "ugly Christmas sweater" and others went all out and dressed up like elves and reindeer! I had a great time and was so excited to see that everyone else was having such a blast.

Saturday, December 10th
Okay, another issue that SAC truly understands is that all students are "poor college students." So SAC always tries to give out freebies like shirts, gift cards, sunglasses, frisbees, cups, or whatever else we can manage to get for students. We also love to show movies before they're released on DVD or at least the week they come out. Last Saturday we showed the hilarious sequel, The Hangover Part II. I suggest that any student totally take advantage of SAC Movie Nights and turn it into a date night! Not only is it free, it's a pre-released film so even the Red Box down the street doesn't have it yet. It's also ecofriendly, no need to waste the gas to drive to the movie theatre when SAC is showing it right on campus. It's a win, win, win in my eyes.

Well, that's all I have to report on for now. Keep your eyes open for my post after break and I can tell you all about The Roommate Game Show we're bringing to campus as well as Cup Cake Wars!

P.S. To get a sneak peak at all of our upcoming events check out our website at msg.mercyhurst.edu/sac ;)