A few dozen people showed up to the East lot on KSU campus, Friday afternoon, for the school’s first student run tailgating event. Unfortunately the grills and games couldn’t see the light of day, as rain washed away the event and managed to push back the first pitch of the baseball game between KSU and North Florida for two hours.
It wasn’t the start Student Tailgate Committee president Colin Ross envisioned, but he insisted the best is yet to come.
“Unfortunately, due to the weather and the canceling of the baseball game we only had a small number of people actually come out. As far as the administrative work that we did, we did a really good job of getting everything together and getting it OK’d by the school,” said Ross, a junior sports management major. “I know we will be moving forward using all of the things we’ve already established and we will start planning the next tailgate very soon.”
Ross, who came up with the idea of student tailgating in February, banded together with fellow students Jordan Fisher (Greek life representative), Aaron Anderson (athletics representative), and Jacob Singer to organize the Student Tailgate Committee—a student run organization to help create unity and a more typical college atmosphere.
In a statement made on the committee’s Facebook group, Ross said that, “KSU tailgating is intended to bring together the student body in a tailgating environment that helps promote school spirit and campus involvement. We want to establish student organized tailgating as a lasting tradition that makes a major impact on student life.”
Ross had to take many steps to get the inaugural tailgate to occur, including meeting with numerous departments for approval.
“We approached the athletic department, that was our first meeting. We met with Vaughn Williams and talked over what we wanted to do and they are all for it,” said Ross. “Once we got the OK we contacted the KSU Police Department to make sure they could be out there to monitor everything. Captain Murphy loved the idea and directed us towards some more people that we needed to talk to.”
“We went before the events committee that meets every couple of weeks. I proposed the idea and they gave it the approval. They were really excited about the potential that our tailgating had,” said Ross.
The Student Tailgate Committee made strides fast, getting approval to reserve the East lot behind the Waffle House, at the corner of Frey and Chastain, for tailgating events.
After that, Ross had to survey the site to get any hazards and underlying concerns taken care of. By the time Friday, March 30, rolled around, it was time to light the fire.
“We invited about 900 people on Facebook, handed out about 300 fliers on campus, and got around 100 confirmed guests,” said Ross.
Ross was not upset with the small turnout for the first event, mainly because of the weather, and claims that the organization has a bright future that will benefit student life.
“There’s been talks with me and the athletic department about starting a new student fan group that will be an RSO, a registered student organization with the school, and we will be organizing the tailgates through that fan group. Once we have that completely set up and we get maybe fifteen to twenty really spirited followers to spread the message, we will really start to see a change in the next semester,” said Ross. “Especially with all of the new housing with U Club, The Lofts, and University Place phase two, bringing in about 1,500 students to the area, people will see the growth next semester and that they should be getting more involved.”
KSU’s culture definitely has changed since its inception in 1963. Since the turn of the century, the athletic teams have gone from DII to DI in the NCAA (DI is the top tier of all NCAA divisions) and the on-campus housing has increased dramatically. Two new apartment complexes, targeted towards student housing in Kennesaw, should localize even more students.
The U Club on Frey road puts students within walking distance of campus, and The Lofts of Kennesaw is conveniently adjacent to KSU Stadium and the Owls’ Nest intramural fields on Busbee Parkway.
KSU is also expected to receive a major boost in school spirit with the fielding of an NCAA football team as soon as 2014.
“In the next couple of years, with a football team, we’re really going to get put on the map,” said Ross.
“The most important part is that the school no longer sees our student body as commuter students. We are starting to see that from the school and faculty, that they are preparing and doing their best for getting students prepared for what we are about to become,” said Ross. “I believe with student tailgating we are going to grow interest and get people to see KSU as an attraction, instead of just a school.”
