A behind the scenes look at SEC’s Bronc Buffet

By By Valis Vicenty & Paul Szaniawski

Tonight’s Bronc Buffet, sponsored by Greek Life, will certainly provide students with the opportunity to enjoy food and to drink and be merry. But what’s not so certain is the amount of work it takes to put together such an event. Last month, the Student Entertainment Council’s (SEC) Bronc Buffet theme had everyone asking, “are you afraid of the dark?” However, maybe students should have been asking, “what goes into planning such an event?”

“The SEC General Board started planning for this event in the beginning of October,” said Jennifer Kamm, SEC Community Outreach Chair. “We had several meetings where we brainstormed all kinds of themes.”

The entertainment council screamed eureka when it agreed upon basing its version of the buffet on Nickelodeon’s television series Are You Afraid Of The Dark?

“A lot of people loved this idea and we took off from there,” said Kamm, just hours before the event. “We got more and more specific each meeting. By the last meeting before the Bronc Buffet, we were creating posters of Nickelodeon characters to display around Daly’s.”

Since the television series originated in the ’90s on the children’s network, the idea of incorporating another classic Nickelodeon staple, “gak,” went hand-in-hand. The buffet featured a “gak” station for students. The discontinued toy that resembles slime isn’t exactly available in huge quantities nowadays.

“I didn’t order anything for the gak,” said Kamm. “It was a matter of going to craft stores and picking up mass supplies — containers, glue, paint and liquid starch.”

Besides having to literally reproduce the slimy, sticky substance, SEC also had to arrange giveaways such as DVDs and gift certificates to be used at local establishments. Once everything was purchased, the only thing remaining was the setup. Kamm felt prepared and excited 24 hours before the event’s kickoff, but as the clock wound down she would be hit with a case of shaky legs.

“I was a little anxious three hours before the event because it was raining,” said Kamm. “I was worried that would affect setup and attendance of the event. However, through teamwork we all came together and everything went smoothly.”

Beforehand, the anticipated number of attendees was 200 because of the inclement weather. In Kamm’s eyes, the work SEC put into the buffet’s preparation turned out to be a success in more ways than one.

“At the end of the setup I was so proud of how we all came together to make Daly’s look the way it did,” she said.

After all was said and done, nearly 300 students attended SEC’s version of the monthly event. If creating homemade “gak” wouldn’t get SEC stuck, nothing else would.
“Another hard thing to do was getting a large haystack from the BLC to Daly’s,” said Kamm. “[Freshman] Samantha [Gallo] and I got followed by three Public Safety cars because they thought we were stealing the haystack.”