Biggest Event of the Year

The Infamous Drag Show

This event is a big deal on campus and has been a big event for years. It's a time to come together and enjoy some live entertainment. From the colorful dresses to the dramatic make up it was nothing less of a good time. The Drag Queens interacted so well with the crowd and vise versa, everyone was in good spirits that night.

It was shocking to me that the Queens didn't run out of stamina mid way because of how much energy they were giving in the first half of the show, but they had just as much (if not more) energy in the second half. There were also Drag Kings who were apart of the show, one of whom I work closely with.

The dynamics that night was so uplifting and powerful, it was a safe space for the queens and kings to show off their skills without any judgement. This was my first ever Drag Show and I loved the attitudes possessed throughout the night, I've never felt more empowered than in that very room.  

Soul Stepping

Soul Steps

I attended a soul step performance right here on campus. Not only did the steppers perform, but they gave background on where the "step" came from and it's country of origin. I learned that the art of step originated from early Africa, where it was first recognized as the "gumboot" dance. 

The steppers also did a gumboot dance number using the wellington boots that were specifically rooted to the dance. They explained that it was a form of expression used by black mines back in the day since they were deprived of conversation. 

It was a great experience and I learned a lot, even though I knew about step beforehand, I did not know how deep into my roots it went. It has always been something I wanted to learn as I saw it was apart of my culture, and one day I still might. 

Kicking off the Spring

March 7th-27th

In the midst of the Spring semester fun, we held some pretty awesome events. Since this is the middle of the semester, we kept it simple and fun as far as events go. We started off this month with Coffeehouse, which is exactly how it sounds.

Coffeehouse 

This was an event that gave students the opportunity to get on stage to share their poetry, music, etc while enjoying some coffee. Not only did we provide our own coffee brewer, but we also chose the venue (Rams Den) that provided Starbucks. It was a calm event that students enjoyed. 

Like a lot of our events, this one required some sound set up which we have a special guy for. That was no different for our next event which was Karaoke Night. 

Karaoke Night 

This event was a really good time, again, I was lead programmer for this so I was in charge of gathering all the materials needed which required me to create sign in sheets for contestants. We also had a special guest, Araya Sparx, who is a drag queen that participates in our annual drag show every year. She hosted the night, which was a form of cross promotion as our Drag Show was coming up next. 

What I Learned

I learned that it is important to place events, especially when working with a specific audience, on days that people are available and are more likely to come out. We also have to take time into account, it can't be too late of an event (when people are home and in bed) or too early of an event (when people are still in class). This is specifically for events that require you to show up, and not a walk through event. 

  

Having some FUN

February

No super intense events for the month of February, but there was definitely some fun ones. To kick off this month, we did a DIY Canvas Painting.

In event planning, sometimes you find supplies; whether it is left over from previous events or given to you through other venues, and you think, "what can we do with this?" This was the exact case with DIY, we had lots and lots of paint from our twice a semester paint nights and we also found some mini canvas. We couldn't use the mini canvas to do a paint night so we decided to do a fun, little do it yourself day in the Rams Den. 

Do it Yourself Painting 

On the day of the event we set up a table with paint of choice and mini canvas. This gave students the free range to paint whatever they wanted in between classes. It was rather fun and easy to set up, my job was to pull the canvas and paint from the storage closet and put it into the event box for other 

programmers to set it up. 

As I have mentioned, in event planning we collaborate with many people. In the case of another event we did, we brought in a slam poet by the name of Guante, who is well known for his consent poem, "Consent at 1,000 feet." 

Consent Poet

Very strategically, we brought Guante to campus to share is consent poetry during consent week. I was unable to attend the event as I had other duties, but I was in charge of making sign in sheets for the event.

Taco Tuesday

Back to free food, we also had our famous Taco Tuesday event which also racks in more than 200+ people every semester. This was a bigger event as far as set up goes, usually we serve our walking tacos outside, but do to cold weather in the Spring we did it inside the Rams Den. The biggest part of set up was being there to help when catering came with the taco supply. 

The month of February is all about love so of course we dedicated an event to that. 

Build A Buddy 

This is a very exciting event in which we let students choose a skin (gross I know) of a stuff animal and stuff it themselves with any amount of stuffing they please. They can choose to make one for a loved one of theirselves. You can imagine it could get pretty messy, the stuffing ended up everywhere, but that's also the beauty in event planning, you get to clean up the fun of a mess!

What I Learned

I learned that when putting on events with guest speakers that you must always be in communication with them. You have to let them know every detail that pertains to them or confusion could come in. I also learned that being hands on for events is very crucial on the performance of the event, even when it comes to delegating who goes where. It can be stressful, but it makes all the difference in the success of an event. 

Making Progress on the Job

Prepping for Big Event - Jan 30th

Office Hours

Every week, each programmer is assigned 3 office hours (total) to tend to each week. In the case of preparing for a big event, you could very well go over those 3 hours. One of our biggest events of the semester was "A Night in Casino City." To prepare for this we needed all hands on deck prior to the event, so most of my office hours consisted of gathering material for the event.

Day of the Event

In the world of event planning, collaborating with other company's is not unusual. So, of course, in this event we collaborated with a company called TJohnE, a booking a production company. They supplied all the Casino equipment needed. The day of the event, my job was to help put the set together. When the event came later that night, I was in charge of handling the chips/money. 

What I Learned

This was a real learning experience for me, as it was the biggest event that I have had to work on in my 22 years of living. This was a more demanding event, but still very much hands on. I learned that time is not to be wasted in the event planning field. We had to put together a set with casino tables in a matter of hours, including the carrying of heavy supplies into the building to get into the elevator. However, some of the equipment cases would be too heavy to ride onto the elevator which cause improvising by taking items out separately. I also learned the craft of casino money, which was an interesting experience. 

Ready...Set....Intern

January 11th-28th

Kick-off Meeting

Going from break into internship duties was rough. The first week back consisted of a two hour long meeting on expectation of my job and duties for the remaining of the semester. In the start of the meeting, we went through events that we planned and assigned specific duties for those events. 

This meeting was very engaging in the sense that we were spitballing ideas and suggestions about upcoming events and how to promote them or what to add to make them more exciting for students. Not only were ideas in discussion, but the implementation was also in discussion.

Welcome Back Week

Moving forward, we hit the ground running with a welcome back week to welcome students back for the spring semester. We stated out rather slow paced by having a booth where we simply handed out fun supplies such as pens, free Shepherd gear etc. We, then continued the week by having a Bingo Night in which I was lead programmer for. We decided to have it at Potomac Place residential hall as opposed to previous years having it in Rams Den.

To end of the first week back we had Waffle Wednesday, a very important day for students may I add. We had waffle makers and made over 200+ waffles for students to enjoy for free. All of these events required minimum set up and clean up. However, being hands on in both of those is crucial in putting on an awesome event. This is hand on experience in event planning and event set up.

More Events 

Within the first few weeks we had more events such as Paint Night and Pool Tournament. These events had to be well organized more so than the others because one involved lots and lots of paint, and the other was a competition so we had to be sure understand the stats. During this period we had a white tubing event at White Tail that had to be canceled due to inclement weather. 

What I Learned

In the first couple of weeks, I have learned that in planning events the more engaging and free they are, the better the turn out. I learned that our audience of Shepherd students enjoy free things the most out of everything. I also learned that we have to throughly think of any and everything that could go wrong.

Let's Get it Started

EPEC's Plan:

In my series of meetings with EPEC, this past weeks meeting was all about event planning. We came up with the idea and how we were going to implement it all in a one hour meeting. We decided on a Vigil Candlelight Night in honor of abuse victims, which will take place on Shepherd's campus. 

The Event:

During the event, we will have advocates from EPEC speaking as well as opening the floor for anyone else to share their story. This will be an event in collaboration with multiple student organizations on campus to raise awareness of who EPEC is and what they do amongst those groups and create word of mouth throughout the whole campus. It also encourages the org's to find out ways to get involved with EPEC. 

Capstone Review

Preparing

In preparation for my Capstone review, I am creating a PowerPoint to explain what my plan is for my campaign. The powerpoint will be focused on the event that I am implementing to address my campaign objectives. I will be presenting the graphics I have designed for my event and explain, in detail, why the event is directly related to the goals my organization wants to achieve. After I present, I will continue my implementation process! 

  

Moving Right Along..

Week of the BIG Meeting - 

Now that I am finishing up all my background research, I have been working towards the strategic part of my project. I am brainstorming ideas, based off my research, that I believe will help my organizations,  EPEC, reach their potential goals. However, brainstorming is all it has been thus far. I have a big planning meeting with EPEC on Thursday, Feb 14th. The whole EPEC staff will be in attendance to talk even more strategy and implementation. 

I am hopeful that this meeting will go well and it won't be a waste of either of our time. The great part about it is, I have a meeting with my advisor, the amazing Dr. Kushin and in that I will ask him tips for preparing for such a meeting. I believe this meeting is going to be arc of my project, so I am yearning for its success. I think I have a solid idea on what it is I have to do and what necessary information I need to do it, and if in doubt, I am sure this won't be our last time being in contact. The goal is to get majority of what I need to plan and implement my project in this meeting, and if not we will meet until I do have it. I have all intentions on assisting EPEC in another small step to reaching all of their goals! 

Where Do I Go From Here (Capstone Update)

Where Am I?

01/20/19 - In continuation of my Capstone Project, which is going to be a Strategic Campaign for a nonprofit; formerly known as "Shenandoah Women Center," but are now rebranding as the Eastern Panhandle Empowerment Center, I have been in continuous contact with the leaders of the organization and multiple people involved. I have started planning ideas to pitch to the organization in order to reach their goals that we have previously discussed. I am a little behind schedule, but it hasn't effected my progress.