On May 1 the Department of Mass Communications held an end-of-year celebration at Summit Park, El Dorado. All media students were invited to play games at the park, eat grilled brats and attend the department awards ceremony.
Chair of the media department, Keith West organized the event.
“We have intermittently done picnics and end of year events in the spring for almost 20 years, especially for the [radio and television] students, but open to everyone. We started going on picnics to Summit Park, and it just got very popular. We would get the grill out, we would do brats, people would bring in other things and that's when we would also distribute the department awards,” West explained.
Part of the reason the college hosts the Brat Blowout is to give students in one department a chance to connect with other student media.
Eating Brats. (Credit Isaac Rich)
“A lot of times we become compartmentalized,” West said.
“The magazine and the newspaper people might interact with each other, but they don't always interact with the radio and tv folks. And the sports folks, tend to produce for everyone, but they may not socialize with everyone. I want the students to be able to, at the very least, know who the other folks in the program are, and the more they know them, the more likely they are to do combined projects.”
Approximately 15 students attended this year’s blowout. There were brats and party food for all. Several of the students played games on the nearby playground, and afterwards West distributed awards.
Daniel Rhiza, a freshman on the radio and tv scholarship, attended the blowout.
“It was just a great time to hang out with friends, eat free food, essentially and just have a good time, [and] meet new people,” Rziha said.
“It was good to have a cookout with friends - just to catch up with people - especially because people haven't hung out terribly much recently. And then [I] had fun playing games [and] talking with people,” Rziha said.
Rziha felt the connection West hoped the event would give students.
“Being able to see what your plan was - what experiences people have had and what people are wanting to do in the future - I think it's definitely helped to see how to shape my future,” Rziha said.
The media department is planning to host another event at the beginning of the school year.
West believes coming to the Brat Blowout is not wasted time.
“It's worth coming. It's a couple of hours out of your day, but it's another way of being able to bond together - It's us versus the world. Enjoy some brats [and] just have fun,” West said.
Brat Blowout Photos. (Credit Isaac Rich)
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