On Sunday, Feb. 1, 2009, the Lankford Student Union, Lancer Productions (LP) and the Residential and Commuter Life (RCL) Advisory Board hosted the first campus Super Bowl Party.
It was heavily advertised, with promises of the biggest screen around campus and plenty of food being provided from different restaurants.
However, on that Sunday afternoon, no one was expecting how many students would show up.
The party started at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, an hour before kickoff. There was plenty of time for students to come in, find a seat, leisurely chat with friends and pick up food and drinks.
Just five minutes later, at 6:35 p.m., there were over 300 students in the Student Union Ballroom, lined up in a figure 8 pattern. The lines were running into the hallways around the Ballroom and out the front entrance of Lankford. Students were weaving in between couches, chairs and tables to get to the food that was provided by Aramark and several community businesses.
You do the math: 10 Pizzas + 50 Wings + 2 Pounds of Chili + 20 Gallons of Chips + Salsa + Cookies + Subs = Enough Food for Over 300 Students?
Not exactly. With over 300 students filling their plates, the food went fast. Most of it was gone even before the game started.
There were so many people packed in the Ballroom that it was very difficult to move around to find a seat or get more food and drinks.
The sponsors of the event had planned ahead and set up several tables and chairs in the ABC rooms down the hall from the Ballroom, which helped control overflow. There were about 30 students in the ABC rooms for the duration of the two and a half hour game, which made for a more pleasant, and less crowded, viewing of the game.
Despite complaints and frustration over the long lines and shortage of food, many students, particularly freshman, were overall pleased with the party.
Freshman Ashley Weaver described the party as “flipping sweet! I had a great time with all my homies!”
Carmen Fortune said, “I loved it! [It was] kinda loud but I liked how they had an extra room set aside…it was much better watching the game in there.” Freshman Brittany Bevins echoed Weaver’s and Fortune’s comments: “It was fun. [I] had a great time with my friends.”
In regards to the food, Weaver said “what I got of it was good!” Fortune said, “I don’t know…I didn’t really get to taste the food.” Bevins “didn’t feel like waiting in line to try any.”
The freshmen had several suggestions and comments about the Super Bowl Party for 2010. Weaver stated, “Plan ahead for more people food wise…and space wise, possibly organize the lines and chairs better.” Fortune enthusiastically said, “More food!!”
Bevins said that “there wasn’t enough food for it.” She posed the questions of more food and planning the event better. She said later on in the interview that better planning is “a must.”
Junior April Keeney, a LP member, also offered comments. She said, “It was fun, but when LP [was] not expecting that many people, so we kind [of] ran out of food, people got feisty. We will try harder to be more prepared next year.”
For planning the event for 2010, Keeney stated that “next year we will plan better, reorganize the furniture, and deal with the food better.”
Keeney suggested that students “come to the LP meetings Mondays at 8pm in the Amelia Room and help us plan better.”
In addition to the weekly meetings, LP has email: lancerproductions@live.longwood.edu. They also encourage students to check their Facebook profile called “Lp Man.”
Here’s the link to the original article about the Super Bowl Party, which ran in the February 4th issue of The Rotunda:
http://media.www.therotundaonline.com/media/storage/paper1354/news/2009/02/04/News/Super.Bowl.Party.A.Super.Headache.For.Some-3610475.shtml
