DBE Bowling Night is a Success

By Brittany Berrens
Staff Writer

The Department of Business and Economics of the University of Wisconsin – Superior held their annual bowling extravaganza at Village Lanes in Superior on March 27.  72 UWS students gathered to bowl Friday night and many more watched on. The event has been held every year since 1981, and is a crucial fundraiser for the department’s banquet on May 1. Overall, the department raised $485.

The committee made $216 from bowling charges after payment to Village Lanes. The student bowlers were charged $7 for two games of bowling and shoe rental.

The remaining $269 was raised by selling raffle tickets. Prizes for the raffle were donated by local businesses. Over 50 prizes were offered and included a night’s stay at Barker’s Island Inn, a $25 gift certificate for Champions Lounge and free cover charge to Centerfolds Cabaret.

The event was organized by a committee of business students and professors. Senior Joe Ojanen served as the chair of the committee. Students working on the committee organized, sought donations and facilitated the event.

Organizing the event offers valuable experience for the business students.

“Students learn time-management skills while working on organizing the fundraiser and how to work with different departments to get everything in order. Overall working with people is the biggest thing,” said student Megan Schlagenhaft.

“The scenario of having to work within a group in order to accomplish a single goal is a situation most of us will face at some point once we reach the job market. As a graduating senior, I know that I will be able to take the things I learned while on this committee and apply them toward my future career,” reiterated Ojanen.

More than a fundraiser, the bowling event is a chance for students to connect with professors outside of the classroom.

“It’s a way of showing the human side, both for us to see students other than bodies that fill our classrooms and take our tests and students see us on a lighter side. It does increase the motivation to learn, it really does,” said Dr. Robert Beam, an economics professor at UWS and faculty advisor to the DBE banquet committee.

“At events like these we have a great chance to talk to our professors about things other than school. In business, social networking is really important. Our professors know a lot of people, and we can have those conversations that we aren’t necessarily able to have at school,” added Markie Schneider, a senior at UWS.

The kind of student-professor cooperation that is seen at the bowling event is something rare to many universities, but not to UWS.

“Later on, when [students] are out in the real world as alumni, they remember these events. It sticks in their minds. And they remember that they were lucky to be at a school where we can do these sorts of things. We remember their names. These kinds of relationships are enduring, because they are real,” said Beam.