One thing that has been emphasized on college campuses around the nation is providing great programs of entertainment for their respective students.

At Oakland University, we have an organization that is focused on putting on great programs for the students: the Student Program Board.

The mission statement of SPB states they strive to enhance student life by providing high quality, diverse programs, activities and events for the OU community.

They achieve this by planning events that range from smaller and shorter ideas, such as the Hump Day series, which they plan to help you get through your week, to spring concerts that they’ve had for the past few years and plan to have again this semester.

They also plan trips, such as the most recent one the Washington D.C. for the Presidential Inauguration, Mackinac and Atlanta.

These events are aimed at entertaining the student body — to help make the student body feel welcome at home while they’re here. They are planned with the students in mind in every facet, from attendees being able to relate to the themes of the events, to highlight recent norms, or to observe historical events in a creative way.

When I think of the variety of things that SPB has done for the OU community in the past, I think of how important it is to have student programming in the first place.

What does it do for our campus? Who benefits from events like this? How do we learn from them?

For our campus, events that SPB have put on have helped make this campus vibrant, not only during the school days but also on nights and weekends.

For example, Casino Night helped bring 700+ people to campus on a Saturday night.

That kind of thing doesn’t normally happen on this campus.

If it weren’t for the collaboration of SPB and Housing on something like that, this campus wouldn’t be where it is today. There wouldn’t be growth. The social scene would be dead.

The programs that SPB put on benefits everyone who attends.

Students, professors, and even local community members can find something from each event that SPB brings to this campus.

Lastly, the attendees learn because of the diverse, multicultural, historical and engaging aspect that the board implements into each event that they plan.

Without something like this on our campus, students wouldn’t be able to utilize such a great resource for entertainment. Life would be boring here.

I urge each and every one of you reading this column to attend an event that SPB hosts this semester.

Come to a big event and meet new people.

Come to a small event and have fun while learning at the same time.

Take a break from studying or classes and go on one of the upcoming trips to Atlanta or Chicago in the coming months.

Whatever you do, make sure that you get involved. SPB is doing some exciting things for this campus.

Don’t you want to come along for the ride?

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Robbie Williford is the Oakland University Student Congress Vice President.  Email him at [email protected]