Dec 16, 2021 | Feature, News |
By Ashley Ward, Secretary and Assistant Editor
FARMINGTON 一 Table Gaming Club (TGC) is preparing to host their biannual Game Fest on Nov. 12, starting at 7p.m. and ending at 7a.m. the next day. Open to UMF students, TGC invites everyone to come by the South Dining Hall and enjoy games, food, and raffle prizes.
A club established in the 70s, TGC holds their meetings every Wednesday in Roberts 028 at 6:30pm. With an average attendance of 15-30 people per meeting, Table Gaming Club is riding the involvement high that several tabletop gaming communities have seen during the past 18 months.
“We think that part of it has something to do with the fact that tabletop games are very easy to translate into an online format. So, it’s not really just a phenomenon that our club has seen, it is tabletop gaming communities as a whole that have seen immense growth over the pandemic,” President of the Table Gaming Club Quinlan Boyle said.
Barring the last three semesters, TGC has hosted the Game Fest twice a year, once in the fall semester and once in the spring. Game Fest is a 12 hour-long table gaming marathon that runs from 7p.m.-7a.m. the following morning. UMF students are encouraged to stop by to play a wide variety of board games, participate in raffles, and have fun.
“We set them [board games] up so people can bop around playing whatever game they want with other people that have shown up. We have a raffle that goes on during Game Fest with prizes that we think people might enjoy. We usually bring out the Nintendo Switch and set up Smash Bros or Mario Kart for people to play together. It’s really just a bunch of the games that we have and take out of storage so that everyone can play them,” Boyle said.
Boyle said that Game Fest is always held on a Friday evening into a Saturday morning, so that waking up for classes the next day isn’t an issue.
Game Fest is TGC’s largest event, usually turning out an attendance number between 75 and 100 students. Another large event led by the TGC, Humans versus Zombies, hasn’t come close to the involvement that Game Fest pulls, not even with the record-high number of 57 participants this semester.
If you are unable to attend the Nov. 12 Game Fest, keep an eye out for the one next semester in Spring 2022. For more information about the TGC or Game Fest, contact club President Quinlan Boyle.
Sep 26, 2019 | News |
Kaitlynn Tarbox, Contributing Writer
UMF’s student employees have proven to be an integral part of campus life and functions as they maintain a variety of positions on campus such as giving tours, delivering mail and secretarial positions. Without them, work loads on staff would increase significantly.
Joseph Toner, Assistant Director of Financial Aid said in an email interview, “Student employees make our campus go. In just about any corner of campus you will find student employees whose work is not only vital to campus operations, but who are building their resumes through experiential work and hands on training.”
Student success is one of the most important things to Toner. “Not only would the day to day operations suffer greatly without student workers, but more importantly, there would be a noticeable difference in overall student success at UMF,” he said. “Student employment is one of the main success indicators for students here; meaning, those who choose to work on campus persist at a higher rate, do better academically, and are more socially engaged.”
Student employees are often the first to greet upcoming students whether it be through a tour or open houses. By welcoming these new students, employees create a student’s first impression of UMF. During the application and tour process Toner said that “as [new students] begin to dig deeper and learn more about UMF they will see student employees at every step along the way. Whether our student employees know it or not, they are all equally important to the success of UMF and the Farmington community.”
Andrea Butterfield, Mail Services Assistant in the mailroom said that “student workers are very important, our department is very dependent on them for things to run smoothly.”
The mail room offers 20 work study positions and usually fills 18 of those. Currently they have 11 employees and without them Butterfield said, “ A lot would not get done, I would be the only employee in the mailroom and mail would no longer be delivered to the residence halls or departments. They would have to come pick up their mail at the mailroom.”
The mailroom struggled during the first few weeks of the semester with a system glitch and lack of employees. In difficult situations, like the large amount of packages that needed to be checked in after their computer system glitched, Butterfield said, “I’m grateful for [the student workers] everyday.”
Lilly Spencer, a sophomore who receives work-study, said, “If we didn’t have student workers a lot of people probably would not be able to attend college. College is really expensive and having a way that we can work towards our tuition is really empowering and beneficial.”
There are many benefits to working on campus: career readiness, time management skills, networking, creating positive relationships with others and other skills that vary on the employee’s position.
Quinlan Boyle, sophomore, worked for the mailroom last year. “I am thankful for student workers every time I get my mail, eat in the dining hall or have a technology problem,” he said.
Without student workers filling over 700 employee positions much of campus life would come to a standstill. Boyle said, “It would not be great without student workers, there is a lot going on at UMF all the time, people who give tours, deliver mail, work in food service. There would be a lot that would not get done due to the lack of student workers.”
