From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 13, there was a tailgate for the 25th anniversary of Washburn University’s Mass Media Department. The tailgate was just the beginning of the events for the day, with a game scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. There were many people scattered about the lawn around and near Yager Stadium, in which people had food and drinks and activities galore for those who went around and looked. There were people there to support their family members, such as parents and siblings of mass media majors, especially those who were in the class that organized the whole event. That’s right, a single class were the ones to plan the whole event, from the tailgate to the individual tents to some of the activities done that day.  

If you looked around at any point in time that day, you could see people milling about, chatting each other up and just generally having a good time, even with the weather being quite chilly. You could even see some children bundled up in winter clothes to defend against the cold wind that was blowing. There were people who brought their dogs along and everyone that passed by just had to stop to pet them, many laughing at the antics the dogs would get up to in order to get attention.  

There were a lot of mass media majors walking and talking, and groups gathered together with their own affiliations and even non-affiliations. There were people who weren’t mass media majors but came anyway, maybe to support their friends or co-workers and congratulate them on having their major.  

Melissa King, a sophomore mass media and political science major, thinks that the celebration is a good way for Washburn to recognize mass media majors.

“It is really cool that Washburn itself has its own sort of celebration/holiday for the mass media department. It usually seems like it isn’t appreciated, but this kind of event shows that the school is thinking about us. The celebration is a good way for those with mass media majors to bond, since most don’t do things outside of the classroom, because of how often they are doing other things. They get to have more things that can help them to be more social, as well as getting the Washburn community to acknowledge and accept that mass media is an important part of the community,” said King. 

Ally Burr, a senior mass media major with an emphasis in public relations and Top Bod candidate, is proud of the class that made this event possible.

“I really love it, the whole gathering of mass media majors together and getting to know each other. Along with the department getting involved with things outside of just mass media. It is really exciting as well, the fact that students get to interact with faculty and alumni… I am amazed and happy that there was actually class time dedicated just for this event to make it happen. It is also a great educational opportunity for those students to get hands on experience with it, so this makes it very exciting for everyone involved,” said Burr.