Non-traditional students hope for continued fall festivities discount

By Anna Tuckett

Today at 6 p.m. Utah State University’s Non-Traditional Student Association president Pamela June began pouring cups of hot cocoa for her last Family Night, a fall-time activity held at the American West Heritage Center.

Participants agreed they can’t afford to lose the Family Night tradition after June's graduation in May.

June was the organization’s president last year when Family Night made its debut.

“One of the members of last year’s board had the idea and we contacted the American West Heritage Center," June said. "It was just so huge. People were coming to us saying, ‘thank you for doing this, we wanted to bring our family here and we couldn’t afford it.’”

Non-traditional students Jenny and Jeremiah Christensen were among those able to attend tonight’s event because of the discounted admission rate of $2. The American West Heritage Center’s regular Fall Festival rate is $9 for adults and $8 for children ages three to 11.

“We’ve lived here in Logan for three years and we haven’t been here," Jeremiah Christensen said. "The price helped us to be able to come."

“Honestly, we probably wouldn’t have come out if the tickets weren’t $2,” Jenny Christensen added.

Tonight’s attendees included 180 students and family members, comparable to last year’s numbers but still a turn-out not expected by the event’s coordinators.

“I didn’t think we’d get that many people, and it was great,” June said.

Before and after this year’s activity, June took note of ways the next president can plan this event more efficiently in the future.

“I’m just going to write down as much as I can because I’m graduating and won’t be back next year,” June said. “So hopefully it will carry on.”

The event includes refreshments, as well as a corn maze, pony and train rides, a straw obstacle course, a giant slide, a straw mountain and more activities included in the American West Heritage Center’s Fall Festival.

The cow-shaped bounce house was “so, so fun,” said Kamden Sattler, a 3-year-old who attended the event with his parents.

Fitness expo vendors want changes for next year

By Anna Tuckett
hardnewscafe.usu.edu/?p=10754

Saturday was the last day of the two-day LivFit Expo, and vendors are already providing the coordinators with a list of changes they’d like to see in the future.

Dr. Thomas Fullmer, the owner of the Advanced Spine and Health Center of Cache Valley, was one of the vendors who discussed his frustrations about the event with the coordinators, Steve Suhaka and April Berezay.

“There are flyers and signs around the valley, but they don’t have the schedule on them,” Fullmer said of the event that took place in the west half of the George S. Eccles Ice Center. “And the event just needs to be promoted more.”

Fullmer has been a vendor at other conventions held at the ice center, including the Cache Valley Home and Garden Show and the Logan Holiday Gift Show.

“This fee was about the same as the one for the home and garden show,” Fullmer said. “I think they will change the fee for all of us that are here.”

Other vendors have voiced their opinions about the fee, $350 for a small booth and $500 for a larger one.

“I have had feedback from vendors that they would love to have a special price offered,” Berezay said. “With them being the first selection of vendors here, this might be an exciting benefit of being the foundation of this event.”

The coordinators plan to continue the expo next year, with a few changes.

“This is the inaugural year,” Berezay said. “So I would suspect there would be a lot of things that we will do differently and more systematically, so we’re more efficient.”

Only half of the ice center was covered with booths, allowing the expo room to grow in future years.

“Today’s an odd day, it’s just not happening,” Fullmer said Saturday morning. “There was a lot more traffic yesterday, but even that was slow.”

Logan Recreation Center booth manager Alyssa Shwartz felt the expo made people more aware of the recreation center’s services.

“We’ve had a lot of people come in who don’t know about the rec center, which is good because we can explain it,” Shwartz said.

Berezay counted the event a success.

“I feel like it’s been amazing, the energy and synergy of connections and relationships that have been built from all of the vendors, to the presenters, to the people attending,” Berezay said. “I feel like there’s just a lot of value all the way around.”

Student writers will prepare for novel writing contest

By Anna Tuckett

With National Novel Writing Month coming up in November, Utah State University students have began preparing for the extra work that lies ahead.

Of the 400,000 novelists participating in National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo, two are Utah State students Bobbie Booth and Kameron Going.

Booth considers himself a NaNoWriMo veteran, with three years of experience competing as a student in the event.

“I'm trying to get ahead in my classes as far as possible now, so hopefully I will have time to write in November,” Booth said.

Going, participating this year for the first time, has a different strategy for juggling the competition with student life.

“I’m doing a lot of thinking and planning about what I will write and setting out some clear parameters,” Going said. “My biggest planning goal is character development; I want to be sure I know these people a little bit before I get to work ruining their lives.”

National Novel Writing Month is a nationwide writing competition for all ages. In the month of November, novelists attempt to write 50,000 words in 30 days.

“The event requirements list a 50,000 word minimum length for the novel, so I’ll need to write 1,667 words a day,” Going said.

The NaNoWriMo website includes resources and tips to help writers reach this goal.

More information about NaNoWriMo is available at: nanowrimo.org.