Midwest Beer Belly Despair Blog

The Morningside Activities Council provides a much needed release valve for students attending Morningside College. The Morningside Activities Council (MAC) brings in various entertainers and shows for students, giving them a much needed distraction from their busy class schedules. Booking everything from comedians to bands to former stars of “The Real World”, MAC is constantly enriching the atmosphere of Morningside. MAC does more than just bring in entertainers though. They also work with other campus groups to give students more actively engaging activities, such as the Fantasy Casino, set up in conjunction with the Morningside Wellness “Live for Life” Program.
Planning activities for Morningside Campus is not an easy job. Every year, MAC sends ten student representatives to a conference held by the National Association for College Activities, where, in a flurry of three days, the representatives are shown acts and courted by agencies. Eight of the representative spots are reserved for the executives of MAC, four for outgoing officers and four for incoming officers. Students who attend MAC meetings and apply to go to the conference fill the last two spots, and any leftover from overlap of officers. During these hectic three days the majority of the acts MAC brings in are decided, but there is some leeway in the system. MAC can also pick up individual acts as they see fit throughout the year, but the Council makes sure to only pick acts from agencies with which they have worked before.
While many students attend the events, MAC members are constantly looking for ways to bring in more students. “We are never completely satisfied because we would always like to reach more students,” says Anthony Henriks, MAC Vice President. A main issue for the council is advertising. Henriks continues, “We have had some ideas that we want to work on this year, like doing an SMS text service that sends out daily reminders to students.” While trying new ways to use technology to help get the word out to students, the tried and true method of placing posters around campus is still the best. According to Henriks, “[The] most effective thing I’ve seen is placing the posters in the right places within a week of the event.”
Unfortunately for MAC, their greatest problem with attracting students is the realities of collegiate life. Kendra Salter, a Morningside nursing student, says she hasn’t attended a MAC activity since last year. “ I haven’t gone this year because I’ve been too busy,” she remarked, gesturing toward a thick textbook. Marcie Ponder, an English major, has a similar problem. “I don’t go [to the activities] because of my schedule.” Ponder is a non-traditional student at Morningside and she has no draw to go to the activities, as they are geared toward younger students during the evenings.
MAC, while not actively booking events for non-traditional students, would be more than willing to listen to any idea a student might bring. The best time to voice an idea is during MAC meetings, held every Wednesday in the Student Government Office at 6 p.m. According to Henriks, “We always open up to ideas from other students… if anyone has an idea we look into it and see if we can make it work.”