New and returning students alike should check out Portland State’s 21st annual Party in the Park Blocks, which will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday in the South Park Blocks. The event brings together most of the student organizations at the university, as well as various departments that promote community and leadership.
New and returning students alike should check out Portland State’s 21st annual Party in the Park Blocks, which will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday in the South Park Blocks. The event brings together most of the student organizations at the university, as well as various departments that promote community and leadership.
“The purpose is, first and foremost, that we want to help student groups recruit. It’s all about increasing opportunities for engagement on campus,” said Shannon Timm Watson, coordinator of student-led services for Student Activities and Leadership Programs. “The idea is that we really want to give student organizations a platform to say, ‘this is who we are and this is what we do,’”
Roughly 130 student groups are expected to run a table at the event. It is the perfect chance for students to research organizations they might like to participate in.
While there are many obvious incentives for students to get involved on campus (a sense of community, making new friends, networking opportunities, having fun, etc.), Watson shared some of the lesser known perks.
“The literature shows that students who get involved in their campus do better on a whole bunch of measures. Their GPA is higher and their chances of graduating on time are higher,” Watson said. “The student organizations on campus are really active and really vibrant. If students go all the way through their PSU experience without ever getting involved in a student organization or the events that they host, they’re really missing out.”
If the prospect of an improved GPA isn’t an adequate incentive to attend, the free food, beverages and music will surely generate some interest.
Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream and the Abu Rasheed Lebanese restaurant will provide free food. Sleeper Agent, who was recently featured in Rolling Stone; Morning Teleportation, who made their network television debut in May on Letterman; and Portland favorite The Shivas will provide live musical entertainment.
But there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Students will be required to visit a minimum of four student organization tables before they can claim their lunch. Tables will be giving out wooden “involvement chips” that come in four different colors. After students have one chip of each color, they can then exchange these chips
for lunch.
The budget for this year’s event is $40,000, with roughly 85 percent being financed through student fees. The event does have a few
sponsors, but coordinators didn’t want too much outside funding for fear that the event would become overly commercial and lose focus of its key goal: student involvement.
It’s estimated that roughly 3,500 students will attend this year’s festivities.
