Everyone likes to get something for free.
This semester Frederick Community College’s Student Leadership & Engagement Center, in the Student Center at H101, has been giving up to two free tickets per student to the Weinberg Center’s Frederick Speaker Series event.
Since 2013, the Weinberg Center has been hosting these speech events with a wide variety of important figureheads. This year included actor Terry Crews and Fox Sports analyst Emmanuel Acho.
Last week they hosted Vernice “Flygirl” Armour, a former U.S. Marine Corps officer who was the first Black female naval aviator, the first female combat aviator in the Marine Corps, and a diversity liaison officer for The Pentagon.
According to the Frederick Speaker Series website, Armour “unleashes hard-hitting advice and amazing anecdotes from her adventures on the battlefield and in business” and also “helps individuals and organizations Get Gutsy and build a sustainable inner force and conviction that results in accomplishing significant goals.”
Giveaways are just one thing that the Student Leadership & Engagement Center offers.
“We’ve been doing this for about 10 years now,” said Kristi Mills, assistant director for Student Leadership & Engagement. “Ever since it started in 2013, we’ve helped support the Weinberg Center by purchasing tickets and then supporting our students by giving them out for free.”
Mills said, “the funding comes from the students’ activities fees.”
“When students take credit classes, not continuing education ones, they have to pay an activities fee which is charged within your tuition,” she explained. “In the catalog and in the schedule, it explains how much it charges you per credit, which is up to a maximum of 10 credits. That’s where our office gets all our funding from, not from the operating budget or your taxes.”
Through the activity fees, students reap the benefits.
“This is why we plan events on campus and why they’re free because the students have already paid for them,” she said. “That’s where we get the free lunches from and how we fund club activities, and why these activities are open for everyone on campus. Especially regarding the Frederick Speaker Series, most of these students would probably never get the opportunity to hear from people such as Vernice Armour and broaden their horizons. So, we really encourage students to participate in these activities as much as they can and not let that fee go to waste.”
Mills said The Student Leadership & Engagement is dedicated to using student’s activities fees in order to provide interesting and engaging activities for students on campus.
“We always put a calendar together for them,” Mills said.
She said events coming up soon are Grace and Grub, a food truck hosted by Father Leo; the MOSAIC Center is doing their events. Additionally, they do vouchers for the Maryland Ensemble Theatre all year long for specific plays.
“I just say to remind students to keep looking at their emails and the Students News Blast to look out for new events,” she said.
