Many events take place at Seton Hill University (SHU) throughout the course of the year. Some are traditions, such as Christmas on the Hill. Some have been so popular in the past that they have become annual, such as the Make-A-Wish Club Haunted House and Campus Ministry retreat.
No matter what the event, there is always a club or activities council that does the planning behind the scenes. Many factors are considered during this planning period in order to ensure a good student turnout.
For the Student Activities Council (SAC), it’s a matter of investigating student interests.
By Valerie Masciarelli,
News Editor
Many events take place at Seton Hill University (SHU) throughout the course of the year. Some are traditions, such as Christmas on the Hill. Some have been so popular in the past that they have become annual, such as the Make-A-Wish Club Haunted House and Campus Ministry retreat.
No matter what the event, there is always a club or activities council that does the planning behind the scenes. Many factors are considered during this planning period in order to ensure a good student turnout.
For the Student Activities Council (SAC), it’s a matter of investigating student interests.
“We have our weekly meetings on Monday night, and they discuss what they want to see, what they’ve heard that other people want to see, what has worked in the past,” said Tom Donovan, graduate assistant of activities and commuter life. SAC also works with the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) to get ideas for campus activities.
The most recent events with large turnouts were the Halloween Dance, and the cosmic bowling held on November 11 at Main Bowling Center, said Donovan. About 75 students showed up for the cosmic bowling; the capacity of the bowling alley was around 96.
“In the survey that was conducted at the end of last year, bowling was on the top events that (students) wanted to see on campus. With the success of the event on Saturday that’s definitely something…we’ll look at. I will definitely help push that event again in the spring,” said Donovan.
Service projects also receive high amounts of student participation, according to Cindy Boland, director of campus ministry.
“People really do seem to get involved with helping with food drives, or if we’re doing a fundraiser they get on board and help with it,” said Boland.
“Working with people they are impacted…just serving itself really does something to people,” Boland added.
Students involved in Campus Ministry are currently taking on projects such as an after school arts and crafts program at the Salvation Army and Christmas caroling at Green Meadow nursing home.
Also, the Habitat for Humanity Spring Break trip already has two sign-up sheets filled, according to Boland.
Kathy Fajt, administrative assistant for the dean of student services and Make-A-Wish Club advisor, agrees with Boland about service projects.
“From the time a student is a freshmen here, we start…with our Labor Of Love project, and we introduce it to them then,” said Fajt.
According to Fajt, the Make-A-Wish Club currently has around 50 active members, which she believes had a large part in the club’s recent achievement of being able to afford to make a wish.
“They’re a very dedicated group that give unselfishly of themselves,” Fajt said.
Not all events planned have large student participation, however. Campus Ministry recently had to cancel the annual fall retreat. Boland said that the cancellation was just a matter of bad timing.
“It’s sometimes that there were just a number of things going on that weekend, but it’s not the first time that we’ve had to cancel it,” said Boland.
Though the event had nine students originally signed up, three of which were students from the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg (UPG), throughout the course of the semester people had to take a rain check.
“It’s usually better to have at least 12 or more people that attend. Typically we have a good 16 or 20 that sign up, but this year, I just think there were things going on,” said Boland. She said that a spring retreat might be something to look into.
“Maybe the fall just didn’t work… We’ll make adjustments. Maybe part of the reason is that a whole weekend away was either too much time for people and more than they could really afford, so maybe we’ll do an overnight,” said Boland.
Donovan said that some activities the board plans do not always host large turnouts, as well. The Suitcase Dance held during homecoming weekend was one of these events.
“We thought that would be somewhat of a big event during homecoming weekend. We don’t know if it was the timing of the event or not, but we figured with basically an overnight stay and spa treatment at seven springs that would increase the student turnout,” said Donovan.
“Now we’re in the process of planning Christmas on the Hill, which to my knowledge always is a large event,” Donovan added.
Donovan also said that SAC is currently looking into redoing the spring semi-formal, which he said “is almost a spring copy of Christmas on the Hill.”
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