With classes in full swing and homework piling up, students are looking for ways to de-stress. Campus Entertainment Committee is offering a variety of on campus events this year for the fraction of the cost that would be required for doing the same activities off campus.
Concordia students pay a $214 activity fee in their tuition, and one hundred dollars of that goes toward CEC events.
“65 to 70 events are offered during the school year,” said CEC Commissioner Nick Bainer (‘14). “For 70 events a year, that factors out to less than two dollars per person, per event.”
While the dances may be the more popular events, a variety of entertainment is offered. On the occasional Thursday night, you will find The Maize packed with hopeful students playing bingo for a bag of free food. About $300 is spent on Grocery Bingo for 10-12 bags of groceries to win.
Other popular events include comedians, guest artists for Acoustic Buzz and the headline event of the year: Cornstock.
“I’d spend anywhere from 60 to 150 dollars on a ticket to see these artists, and students get to experience concerts on campus for free,” said Bainer.
In addition to Karmin’s performance at Cornstock in April, students had the opportunity to hear several successful musicians perform at Acoustic Buzz throughout the year.
“Why spend money off-campus when it’s free here?” said sophomore Kelsey Rausch.
With two campus jobs and a budget to follow, she plans to attend most of the CEC events this year.
“It’s cheap entertainment and usually has a good turnout. It’s a great time to meet a whole bunch of Cobbers,” said Rausch.
Not all Cobbers, though. There’s a big attendance gap between underclassmen and upperclassmen. Students living on campus attend far more often.
“About 80% of our attendees are underclassmen,” said Bainer. Students tend to stop attending as many events once they move off-campus.
Senior Eli Allgood lives off campus and plans to attend 25% of the events that CEC has to offer this year. Allgood works in the advancement center on campus, donates plasma, and plans to get another job in the community. He budgets to afford social outings.
Money aside, these events are a good way to spend your free time, according to CEC Coordinator Bryan Meza (‘16).
“It’s a great place to meet new people and hang out with your fellow Cobbers. We all need to take time to relax every once in awhile,” said Meza.
CEC hopes to introduce some new events this year that will appeal to a variety of Concordia students. According to Bainer, group fitness classes will be introduced in either Zumba, kickboxing, or yoga.
In addition, the committee is inviting “slam”, or spoken word poets to campus to perform, and a game show trivia night is being introduced Friday at 8PM in the Centrum.
CEC advertises their events through bulletin boards around campus and in the Concordia planner.
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