To kick off the semester, Cal State Fullerton’s Information Technology department hosted a movie night, playing the latest film in the Star Wars universe, “The Mandalorian and Grogu.” The evening was an open invitation to all students to enjoy an evening of food and film.
Although IT was hosting the event in collaboration with Associated Students Inc., the event itself was not so much about technology. What it really gave to students was the opportunity to have some fun and to feel included on campus.
Aside from giving students that space to connect and have fun, the evening also allowed for an opportunity to bring awareness to the IT department for those who aren’t as familiar with all that they encompass.
“The idea is that hopefully they can become interested and maybe they could visit our website and see what it’s all about,” said Hector Ramirez, assistant vice president for IT engagement. “They could go out to the industry and see what else is out there.”
A lot went into planning the event, but for students the process was as simple as just showing up. However, setting up this event wasn’t as easy for event leads as it was for attendees.
“The way we acquire the movies is through a website called Swank and we have to pay royalties to be able to get the movie and show it,” Ramirez said. “We select usually three to four movies and out of those we send to ASI, and then ASI selects one of those.”
Since Habit Burger & Grill was catering at the event, two trucks were stationed outside Titan Gym. Throughout the event, various volunteers worked at tents, handing out coupons for free food from Habit Burger, popcorn and water bottles to those showing up.
Considering how big the event was, a lot of communication ensued between the movie night’s volunteers and IT staff as a whole.
“We have to make sure that people from all different departments, all different areas, are all on the same page because an event of this scale requires a lot of work and coordination to make sure it goes smoothly,” said fifth-year animation major Caitlin Pincura, who works as a student assistant in the IT department.
The movie night was packed with commuters and those who had been looking for an excuse to socialize with their community more. The air conditioning in the gym created another incentive for students to show up.
“It’s obviously a commuter school, so even as a student sometimes it’s hard to feel like you have a group or a community,” Pincura said. “The IT department, we try to put on as many events as we can to build that community and bring everyone together.”
In terms of marketing the event, social media played a big role. The CSUF IT Instagram was very active with various posts to update students on details including location changes and timing for the event.
“I would say the most challenging part is making sure we get the message out to students within a week, because we only have a week to put this all together,” said IT Marketing Specialist, Bastion Andrews.
He expresses how the movie night would normally have taken place during a student housing event which wasn’t until the following day. However, because they were unable to do it on that day, they managed to have a successful turnaround and produce the event in the first week of the semester.
For staff, this was also an opportunity to step out of their typical routines. In fact, there was a staff member dressed as the Mandalorian himself so students had photo opportunities.
“It’s kind of fun to just have a day where we’re not in the office 100% of the time and we’re just kind of coming out and being in the field, seeing the students, interacting with the students, providing something for the students they could enjoy,” Andrews said. “I will say that is actually a really fun part of the job.”