On Thursday evening of Aug. 28, the graphic communications honors society, Gamma Epsilon Tau hosted their annual Back to School Bash. While the event almost did not happen outside as planned due to the rain that day, the weather eased just in time for the yard games, cotton candy machine, and impromptu game of “duck duck goose” to go off without any issue. Professor Rocky Restivo brought a speaker to the event to play some music, and Professor Chris Huitt did a flash sale of “one of a kind” Pitt State sweatshirts and hoodies. On top of the cotton candy, there were Popsicles for everyone to enjoy.
President of Gamma Epsilon Tau, Audrey Marney a senior and majors in graphic communications with an emphasis in photography and videography, was in charge. Marney made sure preparations kept on track, promoted the event, had everything printed and distributed, and started to plan for future events as well. The event is meant for students in the department and the College of Technology to meet each other, have fun, and get to know some of the graphics department professors.
Several educators brought something to contribute to the celebration. Professor Traci Hughes brought a cotton candy machine, letting students make their own cotton candy, Restivo brought his Bluetooth speaker to play some music for people to enjoy, Huitt and Professor Christel Benson teamed up to sell hoodies and sweatshirts to support the Graphics Art Club as well as GET. Professors Andrea Kent and Rion Huffman were helping with the games as well as participating in them.
Some of the games set up were spike ball, cornhole, and lasso golf, the last of which seemed to be the most popular. Mark Ziegler, majoring in graphic communications with an emphasis in graphic design, was at the event and noted that he particularly enjoyed the lasso golf game that was set up. He is from the Kansas City area and chose Pitt State specifically for the graphics program, saying he got into digital art around age 11 and once he realized it was a career on the rise, he started to pursue it.
Sid Ruckman, a sophomore in graphic communications with an emphasis in graphic design, had said that they sit in Huffman’s office often, so they got to hear a lot about the preparations for the event. They had gotten interested in graphic design because they “didn’t want to be an art major,” instead wanting “to be on the more technical aspect of” art. When looking at potential colleges to attend, the graphic communications, especially the graphic design emphasis, called out to them. They “wanted to make something that would be out in the world” like in logos, websites, print.
It was an impromptu surprise, but a large group of students and Kent all gathered up in a circle to play a game of “duck duck goose” together following an announcement from Huffman. Just goes to show how much fun people were having to play a game like that when most participants of the game were in their early twenties.