Last Friday Sept. 16, students and faculty gathered at the event space in 4C to take part in casino games, compete for raffle prizes, enjoy a meal and welcome back colleagues for the new school year.
Director of Student Life Marcus Mister said that events like Casino Night are specifically designed to improve interactions between faculty and students, introduce incoming freshmen to student life and provide an entertaining atmosphere for students to unwind.
“The freshmen are really our main target audience. We want to get them out of the residence halls and interacting with other students,” said Mister. Students are given the opportunity to not only meet their peers, but to socialize with faculty and alleviate some of the anxieties associated with being an incoming student.
“Students can actually begin to put a face to the name and meet faculty that they will be working with [over the course of the quarter],” said Mister. However, some students attend with different motivations.
“I heard there was food,” said first-year illustration student Rain Garnett.
Students munched on hamburger and chicken sliders, warm pastrami and provolone sandwiches, fresh fruit, assorted vegetables and chocolate desserts as they roamed the casino tables. Mister said that some students show up simply to enjoy a good, free meal, but he hopes students take more away from the experience than a full stomach.
The assortment of games offered included Texas Hold ′em, Black Jack, Roulette and Craps. Dinesh Dave, SCAD Atlanta Radio DJ and fourth-year graphic design student, mixed at the turntables while raffling off prizes. Winners had to roll an eleven in Craps or land a straight flush in poker.
Attendees were presented with $1,000 in fake money to cash in for chips, and players with $1,000 chips could in turn, trade in their chips for a raffle ticket.
Raffle prizes included t-shirts, water bottles, notebooks, playing cards, button-down SCAD shirts, lanyards and a complete poker set with chips, cards and placeholders.
Mister encouraged students to take part in the upcoming SCAD events throughout the quarter because the creative community is part of the SCAD experience.
The Health and Wellness Fair takes place today, Sept. 19 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Hub. The Foreign, Fonts, Facts and Fortunes event will also be held in the Hub on Thursday, Sept. 22, from 1 to 2:30 p.m.
