New job for Student Activites captures on-campus events

By Lydia Laythe, Staff Writer laythe16@up.edu

Now there is a solution for students who want to stay caught up with what's happening on campus, yet can't make it to every event.

Thanks to a new position in the Office of Student Activities, students will soon be able to watch videos recapping campus events. The Student Activities Video Producer position was created to film campus events and edit the clips to be posted on YouTube.

The position started as an informal idea within the Student Activities office last spring, but over the course of the summer developed into the job now held by senior Manny Aquino.

"It kind of just fell in my lap, and I took it," Aquino said.

Aquino started working this semester and will hold the position until he graduates in May. Student Activities will then assess the success of the position and determine if it will be a permanent position.

Jeromy Koffler, director of student activities and the leader in developing the position, saw an opportunity in the rising use of social networking sites as a way to help promote Student Activities and campus events.

Currently, Aquino attends at least two events a week for his new job. Aquino records the event, partially or in full, depending on his assignment. While at the event, Aquino makes it a personal goal to ask at least two students their thoughts on the event.

"I like going to the events," Aquino said. "It's fun because I get to go around to events and figure out what it is that's most important to the students at UP."

Aquino said that reaching out to students through videos and social media will make his job a success.

"I want to make sure that I'm not just making these videos for a few people to watch," Aquino said. "I want all the UP students to be able to see and easily access [the videos]."

Koffler agrees that the position will play off the popularity of social networking.

"It's the place where people exist in between classes," Koffler said. "We feel that Student Activities needs to be where the students are."

So far, Aquino has gone to events such as the Activities Fair, Espresso UP, the fall cultural event, the CPB alcohol education event, the VoteUP event with speaker Mark Leibovich and the healthcare panel discussion.

Senior Tynishia Walker helped put on the fall cultural fest this year, and was glad the event was recorded.

"I thought it was really good," Walker said. "Having that opportunity for events to be recorded and getting people's feedback on that and then making that [information] public is really cool."

Walker said speaking to Aquino about the event will hopefully encourage students to attend future events.

"Standing there speaking to a camera is kind of weird, but thinking about the intention behind it makes it worth it," Walker said. "They say a personal invite is what makes all the difference in attendance for an event."

After recording the event, Aquino takes the footage down to the Terrace Room, in the interim library location in the Bauccio Commons, and edits it. The editing process takes anywhere between one and two hours, as the videos must be shortened to three to five minute clips.

The videos then get sent to Student Activities to be reviewed and approved. Aquino then must take additional time to make any edits that Student Activities suggests. Finally, the clips are uploaded to a new YouTube channel that Aquino set up.

Currently, there are no videos uploaded to the YouTube channel, but Aquino hopes to have some posted soon.

Koffler expressed several various uses for the videos, such as for promotion of recurring events, advertisement for specific clubs, or a helpful framework for future committees to reference when planning similar events.

Koffler also said that the videos could encourage students who don't normally attend these types of events.

"We want to reach those students that aren't as involved," Koffler said. "We thought videos might be a tool to expose ourselves and all the activities that are going on to a new population of students."

Koffler said the main focus for this position was raising awareness of the diverse activities happening on campus.

"The goal is to get more people involved," Koffler said. "We can make [the information] a little more accessible to them by having this little video out there."

This goal can only be accomplished by student promotion, Koffler said.

"We wanted students to talk about what they're doing," Koffler said. "I always feel that students promote things best to each other. [These videos] can highlight the people who are really responsible for the activities."

Aquino added that the videos also serve as a way to keep students informed.

"There's some moments where you're so busy with school work, and you can't make it to an event," Aquino said. "[With the videos] you can watch the clip, which can give you a small idea of what happened. Then you can feel a little bit caught up."

Keep checking Aquino's YouTube channel to see the final result of his hard work at www.youtube.com/UPStudentActivities.