Photo by Matt Voelckers 
Business Administration major Chris Trump squares off against Biology major Lucas Baranovic in a Sumo Battle at the REC.

AUKE BAY 

On the gymnasium floor of the Student Recreation Center, a foam pad waits for the first set of challengers, bulky vinyl sumo suits empty upon it.

The clock strikes 7:00—it would have all be put back into storage if the two people playing basketball nearby couldn’t have been convinced to give it a try.

Student involvement in University-sponsored activities is largely unpredictable. 

“It didn’t turn out very good, mostly because of Banff,” said Trevor Erdmann, the Intramural Sports Coordinator responsible for planning the event.

Competition, in a sense, for student involvement—such as a Valentine’s Day functions at Student Housing or the Banff Mountain Film Festival—isn’t unfamiliar to event-planners at the REC. 

Shea Mack, Assistant Manager of the Recreation Center offers an explanation for why attendance might be difficult to predict. 

 “The Student Activities side of the University is in flux, there’s not a lot of student involvement in it.  Student Government does some, there’s some staff from the Student Activities.  Housing, of course, puts a lot if their own events on…everything’s separate, there’s no single department that puts on activities.” 

The Student Activities Board is comprised of six students, with a modest budget, and they focus primarily on bringing concerts to campus, since there is no other underage venue. 

The concert of Jeremy Buck and the Bang, which was advertised equally as well as other events, drew a crowd of 45 students.  

“At first, people kind of wandered in.  It started out slow, but then it picked up.  Toward the end of the show, everyone was dancing.  It’s never really happened that I’ve seen.”  Mack said. 

By comparison, the last Halloween Dance drew 150 students.  Concerts consistently draw 30 to 50 students.  However, the Mardi Gras Dance wasn’t well attended. 

Student activities on campus are ideally tailored to the interests of students, but the best way to gauge what students want is to involve students in planning.  There are lots of opportunities for students if they have ideas for events that they would like to suggest. 

“We’re always looking for new ways for students to be involved with activities.  We’ve had a lot of students this year who have come forward and they’re like ‘Oh, I want to put on a ski waxing workshop,’” Mack said. 

Regardless of how fun events might be, the hardest part is getting the word out, Shea admits.  “I’d really like to see some sort of campus-wide e-mail list.” 

Posters, fliers and mailings are the most widely use method of notifying students of upcoming events. For the sumo wrestling competition, staff members walked around campus for an hour dressed in the suits, which seemed to generate considerable interest in the event.

Other resources for finding scheduled events are the UAS webpage, MyUA, and the calendar posted at the entrance to the REC.