Students will be able to earn raffle tickets for attending certain events.

By Victoria Hansen

hansenv@findlay.edu

The Buford Center for Campus and Community Engagement has launched a new raffle system for attending SGA, SAB, and Buford Center events. Certain events will give students digital tickets for an end-of-semester drawing for prizes, including an e-scooter, TV, PS5, laptop, and bookstore credit.

“It gives an incentive that, A, we’re having a program that you can come get involved, and then B, you’re earning something by just showing up and having a good time,” said Maria Guarnieri, Assistant Director of Leadership Development.

Guarnieri says all prizes will be of similar worth, despite the diverse nature of the prizes. If one prize is worth $750, the bookstore credit will be of equal value. The prize drawings will be at the Late Night Munchies event on Dec. 8 at 9 p.m. Students are encouraged to attend multiple events to get as many tickets as possible, but no student can win more than one prize.

A student presenter at the Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities conference suggested the raffle program as a way to encourage students to participate in more on-campus activities, especially lower-attended educational events.

“Sailesh, a hypnotist, is coming next Tuesday, and I mean, that’s going to be a fun event. So, it’s only worth 100, whereas we’ve got passive-aggressive bingo, which is more educational. It’ll still be very fun, but yeah, to draw people in, it’s 150,” said Alex Parker, Assistant Director for Campus and Community Engagement.

“I think it’s actually reallya good idea, because I feel like some people like that, little prizes appeal to me, but the bookstore credit is really nice,” said Keira Witteman, a commuting freshman. “I feel like will work, especially for people that are on campus and  they need something to do, but they want to receive something in return.” Witteman does not attend many student events due to a busy cheerleading schedule and the inconvenient times for a commuter, but she says that the tickets would incentivize her to go.

The raffle program is currently planned for the fall semester only. “If it goes well, we’re definitely going do it in the spring, and we’ll need input of what would be different prizes that would still be appealing,” Guarnieri said.

Three ticketed events are planned for September. Sailesh the Hypnotist is performing on Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. in the WTS Auditorium, with attendance being worth 100 tickets. The Training Oilers Organization Leadership (T.O.O.L.) program will have two sessions on Sept. 11 at noon and 3 p.m. about healthy relationships and “passive-aggressive” bingo, which is worth 150 tickets. The indie-pop band Attaboy will be performing on Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. in College Park as part of the Music Bach Concert series. The event will be worth 100 tickets. To promote engagement, tickets will not be distributed at the beginning of the event, but at an unspecified time during the event.