The outreach committee of the Student Government Association (SGA) held its second annual Harvest Fest Tuesday in the quad and provided students with pumpkins to paint, snacks and a photo booth with a fall theme.
Samantha Hovis, vice president of the outreach committee of SGA and junior integrated marketing and communications major, said that Harvest Fest is a fall-themed event for students to be able to come, relax and meet the members of SGA in an informal setting.
Hovis said she reached out to organizations and collaborated with the Association of Residence Hall Students (ARHS) for this year’s fest.
In order to become a part of SGA, students must apply for the positions, but the committees of SGA are public and anyone is encouraged to join, Hovis said.
Hovis said eight members of the committee came to set up for the event along with the partnering organizations.
SGA provided paint to decorate miniature pumpkins and a photo booth set up with pumpkins and a Slippery Rock backdrop with Rocky the mascot.
Eight pizzas were donated from Domino’s, but Hovis said they should have ordered more for the event because the large turnout caused them to run out.
There was also an apple slice bar where SGA members sliced apples and placed them on a stick for the students to choose toppings of their choice such as chocolate, caramel, M&M’s, marshmallows and chocolate chips.
ARHS was excited to work with the committee and provided cornhole for the attendees, Hovis said. They also supplied the paint for the event; SGA supplied the pumpkins.
Hovis said it was a great teamwork experience for everyone involved.
The event featured a project positivity table where people could pledge to be positive or put their handprint on the banner provided and write about what they are positive for, Hovis said.
“I wanted to get a chance to meet face-to-face with students with a fun activity for them to do,” Hovis said.
All students were able to attend the event and the committee advertised through Twitter and other social media.
Hovis explained that they had the event last year as well, but it was a tailgate before the Slippery Rock versus Clarion football game.
She realized that a Saturday morning isn’t the best time to do this event because everyone likes to sleep in and relax on Saturdays, Hovis said.
This year, the outreach committee of SGA reworked their time and who they asked to partner with to see what would work and what wouldn’t. They realized that the new time worked much better, Hovis said.
“It’s an outreach event, so it’s really just getting face-to-face communication straight to the students instead of us going to them all the time,” Hovis said.
Hovis said the organization wanted the students to have a chance to come to them and have fun while doing it.
“I hope that they put a face to SGA to show that we want to meet you guys, hang out and see what we can do for you,” Hovis said.
SGA’s main purpose for the event was to build a relationship with the student body and to let the students know they can go to them if they need anything, Hovis said.
