Bridgewater, Va.- As Eagle Production was disbanded and the start of the new year approached, a newly combined, more inclusive club was created: CEAT. 

Behind the scenes of organizing campus-wide events, Sam Schlernitzauer, coordinator of student engagement and leadership, shares the planning process of Bridgewater College’s first two movie nights on campus. 

First, the crew members of CEAT decided what movies were going to be shown for Welcome Week and the first week of classes.

“Moving forward, CEAT would like to survey students or get student buy-in to which films we show, but because it was the beginning of the semester, we weren’t able to do that,” said Schlernitzauer. 

After selecting a movie title, CEAT determined the location of the event. 

“We have found that students prefer movies outside. Outdoor events create a different atmosphere and environment which is suitable to movie nights; however due to weather, we were forced to move our movies inside so students weren’t outside in the rain,” explained Schlernitzauer. 

The next step is to market the event through a variety of tactics. 

“We hang posters around campus, include the events in the “This Week at BC” email, post on social media, make a big poster to hang outside the KCC, table to tell students about the event and try to come up with unique and creative ways to reach students,” said Schlernitzauer.

To encourage more students to come out to their events, CEAT features gifts and raffles to excite Bridgewater students.  

“When it comes to giveaways or raffles, we try to find prizes that match the event and what students want.We purchase prizes before the event, but they aren’t planned out months in advance to ensure that the prizes are current, trendy, and match the theme of the event,” said Schlernitzauer. 

As the semester continues, whether virtually or in-person, CEAT will continue to prioritize entertaining events for student engagement and activities.