Annual graduate student picnic boasts turnout of 1,055

Tech's twelfth annual graduate student picnic was held on Sept. 8 at the Campus Recreation Center (CRC). The picnic exceeded the Graduate Student Senate's (GSS) attendance expectations with approximately 1055 graduate students attending the event.

"This picnic is a good way to introduce students to different activities on campus, like the [student government], and encourage them to get involved," said Senator Maria Carnasciali. "Most importantly, though, it's a great way for them to interact with other graduate students."

Students said they used the picnic as an opportunity to meet people. "I'm here to meet new people. I'd like to see more people outside of my department," said Behnood Gholami, a first-year Aerospace Engineering graduate student.

Free food, T-shirts for the first 500 students, coupons and door prizes were added incentives to attend the event. "We partnered with the Alumni Association for the first time and Auxiliary Services for the second time to make this picnic better than the ones before," said Kasi David, graduate student body president. "These organizations have provided us with...support."

This year also marked the second time the picnic has been held at the CRC. "We like having the picnic here because we want people to find out about it. The CRC is a great place to gather and offers a variety of fun, healthy activities. It's important that graduate students know there's more to do at Tech than stay in a lab all day," said Michael Edwards, director the CRC.

"The food was good, and it's been wonderful meeting new people," said Artrease Spann, a first-year Chemistry major. "It's good to know I'm not alone. There are other graduate students here, and there's more of a community feeling now."

Several families also came to the picnic. "It's nice that this can be a family event as well. It's fun, and it makes Tech feel more homey, as if we're really being welcomed into the community," said Lynn Perkins, wife of Andy Perkins, a fifth-year Electrical Engineering graduate student.

The Perkinses have attended the picnic previously, but said they found this year's event to be especially good. "They ran out of food early last year, but now there seems to be plenty to go around. The cotton candy and popcorn have been good additions, as well as the free T-shirts," Perkins said.

"Approximately 1055 graduate students attended the event, and we only expected 1000 to come," said Mitch Keller, graduate student body vice president.

"The most important thing we hoped to accomplish at this picnic was to increase the sense of community among graduate students," David said.