On April 25, 2015, Plymouth State University’s Annual Chili Cook-Off took campus by storm. From 12 noon to 1 p.m., 35 contestants set up their chili in hopes of winning over the crowd of students, faculty, and community members alike. The winning chili went to the President’s Cabinet, which was made by Dr. Julie Bernier, PSU’s Provost.
The cook-off is an annual event hosted by the students in the upper-level business elective, Event Marketing. Every semester, students plan two main events. In the fall semester, students plan the Job Fair; in the spring, the class puts on PSU’s Got Talent and the Chili Cook-Off. All of the proceeds from the events go to local charities. This year, all the proceeds from both PSU’s Got Talent and the Chili Cook-Off went to the renovations of the common spaces in Smith Residence Hall.
When planning these events, the Event Marketing students were broken into two main groups, and then into subgroups with two project managers overseeing each event. For the Chili-Cook Off, students had to work with many different offices and departments on-campus to make sure the event came together successfully, departments such as Financial Aid, the Administrative Office in the HUB, and Physical Plant.
Professor Terri Dautcher often teaches the course, and did so this semester. Dautcher focuses on giving her students real-life, hands-on experiences. Senior Business major Jackie Steele, a student who helped plan the Chili Cook-Off said, “Terri does not intervene; we are completely on our own for everything we do, in a good way. She guides [us] in the right direction.” Along every step of the event planning process, students are given the opportunity to learn what it takes to achieve a successful, large-scale event.
The Chili-Cook Off is one of the many traditions at Plymouth State University that brings the community together. Senior Communications Major, Emily Spring, who was another Event Marketing student, said, “[the events] gives students a great opportunity to apply real business skills in a practical sense. It’s an extremely rewarding and humbling experience to see an event from the beginning to the end. The final product is amazing to watch.”