Marketing class organizes fund-raisers to aid tennis team

April 3, 2006 —

Student group brings speed dating trend to campus

A fund-raiser for the SVSU women's tennis team will be bringing an event to campus designed to create a comfortable environment for male and female students to meet one another.

A group from Dr. Gary Clark's Marketing 331 class will be hosting speed dating on Wednesday, April 12 from 8 to 10 p.m. in the Student Center Rotunda. Cost for the event will be $10, and registration begins at 7:30.

"We tried to jump out of the box on this one," says student and group member Ryan Stokes. "Everybody's doing kind of safe fund-raisers. Speed dating just seemed like something that wasn't normal to Saginaw."

For those not familiar with the concept, Stokes points to the movies Hitch and 40 Year Old Virgin for examples. In those movies, each man and woman attending have a limited amount of time to meet one another to find someone he or she is interested in.

While he says the final details have yet to be hashed out, the event will be similar to the examples from those movies.

"It seems simple enough," he says. "You just get everybody together, get a tally of guys and girls, and have the DJ playing music."

The group is bringing in DJ Bob, who Stokes says he met from the River Rock Cafe in Bay City. Stokes says the DJ's style is perfect for the event.

"I just wanted a DJ that's going to get everybody involved," Stokes says. "He's good at making an uncomfortable situation comfortable."

Stokes says he feels the event will offer students an alternative to meeting others in forced situations or at the bar.

"How many people actually meet each other on campus and get anything out of it?" Stokes asks. "Plus, there are a lot of people going out to the bars, and how awkward is it to try to make something out of meeting someone at a bar?"

While Stokes admits most will be shy about the concept at first, he says the situation is not as intimidating as it sounds. If 50 students sign up for the event, he points out that is at least 25 new people those attending will meet.

"Whether or not something sparks a relationship, you've met 25 new people, and you can exchange numbers," he says.

Holding the event in the Rotunda will also add an interesting element, Stokes says.

"The Rotunda is going to be different, because it's going to be an open area," he says. "Versus a room where everybody walks by and looks in, it's going to be open, so people can walk by, like what they see, and maybe donate some money."

In addition, Stokes has secured several restaurants from around the area to donate raffle items. He says items ranging from free appetizers to gift certificates for more than $25 will be provided by places like Hooters, Famous Dave's, Bennigan's, Red Lobster, and TGI Fridays. Stokes is trying to get commitments from Don Pablos, Damon's, and Lover's Lane.

The raffles do not cost any additional money, Stokes says. Once a student pays their $10, they get a raffle ticket for the rest of the night.

Stokes is part of a group that raised $600 last month in a bowling night. The speed dating will be the group's final fund-raiser.

"This is going to be something unlike anyone has seen before on campus or in Saginaw," Stokes says. "To do something like this, you have to go to Detroit, Chicago, or another big city. It's something different."

Free online poker tournament planned by booster club

Students wishing to donate to the SVSU women's tennis team will have an opportunity to do so next Monday without spending any money.

That is because a group in Dr. Gary Clark's Marketing 331 class will be holding the Saginaw Valley Tennis Poker Tournament for free at AbsolutePoker.com with a $200 cash pool.

The tournament will begin at 11 p.m. on April 10 and last until there is a winner.

Those wishing to participate have to take several steps to register, according to student Jason Crooks, a member of the tournament-sponsoring group.

To sign up, students must first go to www.winyourtuition.com/saginaw and enter his or her e-mail address. A confirmation e-mail is sent, and it will ask for a password. Crooks says the password is simply "tennis," and registration should be complete.

The tournament is open to anyone, so students do not have to enter their SVSU e-mail address.

Crooks says Absolute Poker is trying to promote its site, so for each person that registers, the Web site will give $10 to the newly formed booster club for the tennis team. After the $200 is paid out to the top nine finishers, Crooks says the rest of the money is given to the tennis team.

The booster club was formed from within the 331 class. Some details regarding fund-raising were unknown at the time Clark decided upon the project for the class, so the students hit a snag when they were informed they could not fund-raise as students. However, through talking to Vice President for Student Services and Enrollment Management Robert Maurovich, they discovered that the fund-raising would be made possible if a booster club were created.

The possibility of the tournament was discovered through a mass e-mail that Crooks received. He says Absolute Poker sent out e-mails stating it wanted to sponsor clubs and organizations, and once the booster club was created, he inquired about sponsoring a tournament for the tennis team.

Besides getting the word out about the tournament and paying the winners, Crooks says everything else is being handled by Absolute Poker.

"It should be pretty easy to pull off," he says. "We're just trying to get a lot of students to get into this."

He adds that since simply registering is another $10 for the tennis team, doing so should be an easy decision.

"You don't even have to know how to play poker," he says. "Just go in, sign up, and you're donating $10 to the women's tennis team."

The tournament is Crooks' group's main fund-raiser. Other groups are also holding fund-raisers this month, all designed to raise more money for the team to get its equipment and uniforms.

"It's going to a good cause," Crooks says, "so we're hoping to raise quite a bit of money."