With only a week’s notice, The Kababayan Program hosted a Super Smash Bros. Brawl game night to fundraise for their Pilipino Cultural Night.
The game night was originally intended to be a tournament. According to the Pilipino Cultural Night Executive Director, Jacob Tolentino, the tournament was replaced with casual play. “Since there wasn’t enough players for a tournament, we turned it into a game corner,” Tolentino said.
For one dollar, participants were able to play two games between Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Mario Kart. All the money raised from the event will go towards the production of the Kababayan Program’s Pilipino Cultural Night on May 4, 2013. Pilipino Cultural Night is a student-run annual production that celebrates the Filipino and Filipino-American experience.
Tolentino and Geneva Reyes, the Filipino Student Union President, agreed that the reason for the low attendance was the lack of publicity and advertisement on their part. “It was mainly word of mouth. We basically did it through Facebook and social media,” said Reyes.
The Facebook event was created on February 17 and only gathered a confirmed 28 people who would be attending among the 254 people who were invited. Among the attendance was Dustin Callejo, a Kababayan alumni and former Skyline student. Callejo, an avid Smash Bros. player, was excited about the opportunity to support the Kababayan Program’s fundraiser.
“It’s important for us to reconnect and stay in touch with the program. I wanted to support in any way I can and what better way than through Smash,” said Callejo. Jasmine Dayrit, a member of the Kababayan Program, is already anticipating the next tournament after learning the necessary steps to put the event together.
“We kind of rushed for time because we had a lot of paperwork to complete to get the room approved for the event,” said Dayrit.
Despite the last minute changes and low attendance, the students were able to make the necessary changes to still have a successful first fundraiser for their Pilipino Cultural Night. “Everyone’s having fun, I can see it,” said Tolentino.
Students were standing outside the doors encouraging other students to come in and play. The location of the student lounge aided their attendance because the bookstore was across the room and already lured people in that direction.
The Kababayan Program plans to hold the actual tournament sometime in April with much more advertisement online and throughout campus.
