Photo Courtesy of Tracy Newel

The Recreation Administration Department offers a class for students who have a passion for planning events on campus and in the community.

The special event planning class, commonly known as RA 117, helps organize and conduct large community functions. The class helps organize street fairs, community festivals, corporate events, major fundraisers, convention center events and joint sponsorship events.

Professor Michael Mahoney has organized events for celebrities, actors and current and retired professional athletes. He’s even traveled overseas to help manage projects with entertainers and professional athletes who went to visit troops in Iraq, Germany, Afghanistan and several other places.

“My classes are an active learning environment,” Mahoney said. “I will go through lecture, but I’ll stop specifically on certain points to bring real world industry examples to the content.”

A regular day in RA 117 consists of discussions about special events of the past and present. After discussion, Mahoney shares digital videos and assigns the students to bring in newsworthy events that are taking place on campus, in the Fresno or Clovis area, statewide, in the country or internationally.

The students enrolled in the class are working at full speed this fall semester. The class meets every Monday from 6-8:50 p.m., but that doesn’t stop students from working outside the classroom as they prepare for a huge upcoming event.

The students in RA 117 are planning the upcoming Centennial Homecoming Parade which will start before the football game tomorrow in the Peace Garden. Tailgating immediately follows the parade, and the game starts at 7:30 p.m.

Four committees are helping put together the Centennial Parade: marketing, logistics, staffing and stewardship. There are approximately eight people in each committee including an assigned leader that reports to the chair of the Homecoming Centennial Parade on their status.

Recreation administration major Sara Cerkueira is the leader of the logistics committee, which takes care of the resources needed to operate the parade such as ordering and renting tents, chairs, tables, trash and recycle bins, bullhorns and more.

“The best part in preparing for the parade so far has been watching it all come together,” Cerkueira said. “I don’t think people realize how much time and effort goes into special event planning, but you can’t fault them because you probably wouldn’t know unless you’ve done it before.”

Communications major Karissa Aston is a member of the marketing committee, which is responsible for getting entries to be in the parade like school clubs and organizations, Miss Fresno County and the Mayor of Fresno.

Aston is taking RA 117 to receive a certificate in event planning because she hopes to have her own event planning business one day. She currently plans local, low-budget parties and baby showers.

“You can either take the class as an elective or you can take the class to receive a certificate in event planning,” Aston said. “If you’re taking the class for a certificate, then you also have to take two other classes, which includes 72 hours of community service that needs to be completed in order to receive the certificate.”

Each committee is set for the Centennial Homecoming Parade tomorrow at 3 p.m. The Centennial Homecoming Parade will help give fans an opportunity to celebrate this milestone while creating another hundred years of memories.