BY CJ GIBSON
Student Engagement hosted a Grocery Bingo event, where students could play for the chance to win a bag of goodies.
Grocery Bingo had two different sessions: the first on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 7:00 p.m. in McMindes 2R and the second on Wednesday in the Memorial Union Ballroom.
The second session, however, had a significantly larger crowd of attendees.
Rylee Bretton, a Student Engagement employee at the event, was pleased with how many students were in attendance.
“I was very happy with the turnout. Tonight we started setting up at about 6:45 and we already had a line at the door which was crazy.” Bretton said.
“Our turnout yesterday was good, but we were in a smaller room, so tonight we definitely had a lot more people. We also had people who didn’t win the first day who came to the second night as well.”
Each round students played to win a tote bag filled with various snacks as provided by Student Engagement. Once the bags were won, students participated in shorter rounds for the chance to win a t-shirt.
Rhe Villegas, a sophomore Informatics major at FHSU, was one of the winners.
“It was fun,” Villegas said, “I goofed myself in the beginning: I thought we were playing regular bingo and I had a straight line and I yelled bingo. I had a good laugh out of it.”
Regarding the bag of snacks he won, Villegas said, “It’s gonna be great for like the next month hopefully. It’s great; I like it.”
Another winner, Katie, is a junior Nursing major.
“I thought it was fun,” Katie said, “I’m planning on giving whatever I don’t need to some of my other friends so that I won’t be hoarding for nothing.”
While neither Katie nor Villegas expressed worries over access to food this semester, the Tiger Food Exchange is available to provide food to students in need.
The Tiger Food Exchange provides a wide selection of canned packaged foods, as well as fresh produce on Fresh Food Fridays. The Tiger Food Exchange is located on the first floor of the Forsyth Library and is a part of the FHSU Food and Hunger Initiative.
While this chance to win groceries has passed, Student Engagement plans on doing Grocery Bingo again in the future.
Some other upcoming events that Student Engagement is hosting are Stuff-A-Tiger and Novels for Hope.
Stuff-A-Tiger is a popular event that provides students with a kit to make their own tiger plushie. The event will take place on March 16 at 2:00 p.m. in the Memorial Union Black & Gold Room and on March 17 in the Heather Storm Shelter. Stuff-A-Tiger is on a first-come first-served basis, and supplies have run out in past renditions of the event.
The second Novels for Hope event of the Spring 2021 semester will discuss the book Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo. The virtual meeting will be held on April 20th at 5:00 p.m. Students interested in attending can register on TigerLink and receive a free copy of the book as supplies last.
“We were not expecting that at all, but we definitely had a good turnout and I definitely think [Grocery Bingo] is something good to do in the future to get a lot of involvement for students on campus,” Bretton said.