Fairfield@Night is an organization that hosts events for students to mingle and be creative every Thursday through Saturday night from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Students attending are found at the events in the Lower Level Barone Campus Center (LLBCC), but there never seems to be a large turnout.
The Mirror attended a F@N event, and noted that around 30-40 students came in and out of the event. The events appear to lack attendance from the Fairfield student body, so the Mirror spoke with senior Nohea Breeden, a Creative Director for F@N, to get a look into what efforts they place into marketing and increasing attendance along with what it looks like to plan the events.
Breeden stated that they are “very active on our Instagram. Additionally, all students can find our information in regards to all events in the Weekender [email] that you automatically get every Thursday.”
Along with those tactics, they also send reminder emails to sign up and RSVP to go to the events. “Students can depend on us to be in the LLBCC every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night starting at 9 p.m..” Breeden said.
“The emails I receive from Fairfield@Night help remind me to text our group chat about the fun events going on and help us make an effort to go,” first-year Ava Bistoff said. “I do understand that a lot of students enjoy going off campus on weekends but for a night in Fairfield@Night is the first place my friends and I will go.”
In terms of attendance, Breedeen shared that every weekend changes the amount of students present, depending on weather, time of semester or other events being hosted on campus.“During the fall semester on average 70 students [attend each] event. Then during the Spring semester we expect an average of 40 students at each event.”
First-year students must fulfill First Year Experience credits by engaging with events on campus such as F@N, so the turn out in Fall will always dominate the Spring. The beginning of the year seems to have higher attendance at many things such as athletic events and other on campus programming but slowly fades as the semesters continue.
The events they plan range from bingo and custom sign making to coloring with Crumbl cookies. The thought behind the plans involves the Creative Directors meeting weekly to discuss the plans of the week.
“This process of picking events comes from our event braindumps that we do as a whole team during training,” Breeden said. “As well as through any requests we receive from students.”
The Creative Directors work hard as “events require ordering or contacting outside vendors.” This takes much planning and collaboration and Nohea explained that “this just shows that we as a team work with other companies or departments here on campus.” They bring many ideas to the table and have a lot of fun hosting the plans to take place on Thursday, Friday and Saturday each week.
Lastly, Breeden shared that “There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes. Additionally, I hope students feel comfortable to share any ideas for events that they may be interested in.”
F@N takes students’ interests seriously when planning their events to hopefully appeal to a large variety of people. She went on to say, “Lastly, I hope students know that we [the F@N team] love what we do. We are here to support all students by having a good time.”
The Mirror also reached out to Stephanie Rodgers, Assistant Director of Office of Student Engagement and Supervisor of F@N, who did not respond in time for publication.
With enthusiasm growing and warmer days approaching, F@N remains committed to providing students with fun and memorable experiences throughout the semester.
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