On Wednesday, March 29, 2017, the Campus Government Association, hosted the Big Event Kickoff. The kickoff was held on the Student Service Center patio and started at 11:30 a.m. This event was created to inform students about the Big Event, which is occurring Saturday, April 1,2017. The Big Event is an event that is run by the CGA and is focused on helping the Bloomsburg community by volunteering around the town. According to the Bloomsburg University Website, the event usually employs around 2,000 volunteers and can end up helping more than 70 local residents.
“The purpose is to get people excited about the Big Event” said CGA president, John Caserta. John, along with running CGA, helped to plan the Big Event Kickoff. Caserta went on to explain all the various aspects of the Big Event Kickoff. “We are going to have a raffle for two baskets. The baskets are items from the bookstore. Another raffle we have is for two Sublime with Rome tickets.” Sublime with Rome is a band that will be holding a concert for students on April 27th. Along with the three raffles, there were various free food and items that students could receive at the Big Event Kickoff. Items and food included magnets, lanyards, pizza, and bottles of water.
The Kickoff Event has been running for a while now. Becca DeMuth, a senior at Bloomsburg University, stated that this was her fourth year helping to run the kickoff and her fourth year participating in it. Becca was running the raffle table and while it was a lot of work, DeMuth did say her reasoning for enjoying the Kickoff event. “I like the event because it puts boots on the ground for students and gets students excited for volunteering this weekend.”
Besides the CGA members, many participants were curious, but happy with the Kickoff Event. Chelsea Smith, a student at Bloomsburg University, stated that she came to the kick off “for pizza.” However, she also did say that she would be attending the upcoming Kickoff Event. Another attendee, Freshman Maryloz Morales, had not known about the kickoff beforehand, but said she came to the kick off because she was “just walking by.” Once Marales arrived here however, she wanted to stay as her favorite part was definitely the “free food.” As for participating in the event, Maroles she was unsure if she would be participating, but was “going to try.”
The Kickoff Event featured lots of free food and chances at prizes aimed to peek students interest about The Big Event. It also featured entertainment in the form of free food, Bloomsburg related baskets, and the chance at prizes. And as long as the Big Event is around, there is an obvious chance that the Big Event Kickoff, will be occurring again too.