The Honors College and Honors College Assembly are hosting a viewing of the Arkansas game for Honors students this Saturday in The Zone.
The Honors GameDay Extravaganza will take place from 1:30 to 6:30 p.m. Sept. 25, according to the event’s Facebook page.
The page said the event is limited to 500 Honors College students in good standing with the Honors College. Full Moon Bar-B-Que is catering the event, and the cost for students is $8. Students attending should bring their ACTion Card, according to the page. Students can prepay by 5 p.m. today or pay at the door, but prepaying guarantees entry on Sept. 25.
The Extravaganza is an attempt by the Honors College to provide a complete UA experience for Honors students, said Jonathan Pittman, Honors College Freshman Year Experience Intern.
“The Honors College is committed to providing a holistic student experience, and we know that a huge part of student life at UA is football,” Pittman said.
While the event is open to any Honors student, the event seeks to integrate Honors freshmen into the Honors and UA communities.
“We’ve also been pointing students to our blog for Honors College freshmen, bamafreshmen.blogspot.com, for more information and a link to the sign-up sheet,” Pittman said.
Pittman said the use of The Zone, an expansive private lounge and viewing room for games at Bryant-Denny Stadium, is a new spin on an old method.
“We’ve hosted game-watching parties before, but we felt like we had never fully tapped the community-building potential of that type of event,” Pittman said. “We decided that hosting an event at a venue like The Zone would be the best way to build student interest and make the event truly successful.”
Pittman said The Zone could become a more common tool for the Honors College if the Sept. 25 event is successful.
“We would love to be able to continue to do this in future semesters,” Pittman said.
Pittman said even if the event is successful, the Honors College would have to wait until 2012 to run a similar event due to the high cost of renting The Zone for a day.
“While we don’t quite have the funds to host multiple events during the same year, a similar event will definitely be considered for next year,” Pittman said. “Of course, that will depend on the success of this event.”
Fernanda Lima, also an Honors College Freshman Year Experience Intern, said a sense of community within the Honors College is a priority.
“One of the big goals of the Honors College is to create a community among its students and we wanted to provide a social way to do that,” Lima said.
Lima said the event was created in part because Tuscaloosa is “deserted” on away game Saturdays and some students are left with little to do.
“A large number of Honors College students are out of state,” Lima said. “We really wanted for the out-of-state students to feel at home. We wanted them to have something fun to enjoy together.”
Evan Szczepanski, a sophomore majoring in history, economics and Spanish and a member of the Honors College, said he liked the idea and plans to attend.
“It seems like a good way to get with the people you know,” Szczepanski said. “It’s an away game so there’s not going to be a football game to actually go to.
“I feel like it’s definitely a positive action because it brings people together.”
