Each October, the Ramapo College Student Government Association hosts “Octoberfest” which consists of three days full of fall festivities such as a carnival, live bands and free food. This year, adding to the events of OctoberFest, the College Programming Board held a Sidewalk Chalk Art competition on Friday at the Arch.
This competition consisted of the clubs and organizations gathering together to create artwork with chalk and created a perfect opportunity to catch family and friends eyes as they walked along the sidewalk to see what the Ramapo clubs and organizations have to offer.
There were a variety of clubs that came out to promote themselves, such as Ramapo Pride, Pre-Med Club, United Asian Association, Habitat for Humanity and Music and Entertainment Industry Student Association (MEISA). These clubs took advantage of the beautiful October weather to take pride in their club by designing artwork on the concrete.
“[With this] being the first year, we were very excited about the turnout of 28 clubs and they all seemed to really get into the competition and event,” sophomore Emily Egner said. “I think this promotional strategy was a great way to let other students know what kind of clubs Ramapo has to offer. It was also a great way for clubs to all be at an event together and spend some time networking.”
Clubs such as Pre-Med and MEISA illustrated what their clubs were all about with information regarding where they meet each week, what their clubs are about and why they would love for Ramapo students to join. Although the weather was a bit chilly, these clubs were consistent and dedicated to the campus in order to spread the word about their organization. “Overall I thought the event was a great success. It brought out many club representatives, everyone got to network and meet other people, reconnect with friends, and just have some fun drawing with chalk” sophomore Donna Elazar said. Clubs, participants and students received ballots to walk around the art exhibits to vote for their favorite sections. First prize was $200. Votes were based off of color use and detailed meeting information.
“The chalking event was a great opportunity to interact with some of the other organizations on campus and to advertise our club to the campus community,” junior Allison Gutworth said.
By spreading the word about their organizations, clubs were able to obtain the goal of increasing participants but increase their budget if they were to win the competition.
“We were also very excited about the amount of votes casted for the winners and we have received a lot of great comments regarding our event,” Egner said. “For next year we are looking at leaving up the chalk to let family day participants vote as well.”
The winner of this competition was MEISA, which was granted an extra $200 towards their budget which will allow them to hold more events in support of their club.
“This is a great way to increase a clubs budget, which can be spent pretty quickly. Last year we had over 100 people; this year was an even greater turnout. I think we might have a similar competition in the spring when it’s warmer,” sophomore and CPB Music Chair Amanda Pontone said.
Second place was tied with UAA and Habitat for Humanity clubs, which showed that these clubs were pretty dedicated to not only their artwork but their enthusiasm towards getting students to join.
Overall this weekend was successfully filled with various student organizations teaming up to build student involvement and enthusiasm. Families and friends were not only observing Ramapo’s campus but got an inside look at the schools clubs and organizations their students may want to join in the future.
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tdavis1@ramapo.edu
