Story by Kaitlyn Brady
Video by Bryan Winstead
If you’ve heard of DelVal, there is a good chance you’ve heard of A-Day. But, did you know the event is completely student run?
The event happens every year in April and spans over a three-day weekend period, but the planning of activities, livestock shows, vendors, food and all that goes into the annual celebration takes a 40-person student committee and hundreds of volunteers to make it possible.
You heard that correctly, A-Day is completely student run. The 40-member committee is responsible for coordinating the entire weekend, ranging from vendors to parking. Despite being limited to the university’s campus, managing the large-scale event is also no small task. The A-Day committee spends the whole year (Yes, even the summer!) planning for the event.
“Throughout A-Day weekend, students are 100% responsible for every moving piece of the event. Planning wise, it basically begins the second A-Day ends that weekend,” said Brooke Wolfinger, a senior at DelVal and third year Parking Chair executive for A-Day.
With every event, she said there are always things that they wish we could have done differently, and they tackle that list starting seconds after A-Day is over. Throughout the summer, different positions begin reaching out to their different people and connections to start the process all over again, she said.
“We hold weekly meetings on Monday starting the first week of school, all the way through each semester up until A-Day week,” Wolfinger said. “Then different positions have a variety of meetings with facilities and people who play a significant role in their position! For example, with parking, we have meetings with Jeff Brown, local police companies, public safety, etc.”
Alice Kaufman, another senior and third year VP of Vendors for A-Day, compared her position on the committee like a second full-time job on top of her full-time job as a college student. Kaufman described some of the work she had to do to prepare for the event as “… working on tasks late at night for hours, going to multiple meetings between classes or needing to measure a spot out on the quad on the fly. We set everything up the week of A-Day and tear everything down together at the end of the weekend. The amount of time and effort that goes into the event is unimaginable.”
Some A-Day shifts can be up to 16 hours long, and there is little time for rest. Issues can arise just about anywhere, and committee members are almost always running around to the different parts of campus to ensure everything is going smoothly. Aside from managing the outside vendors, the committee is also incharge of the student volunteers. “For us in parking, that includes shuttling people from parking lots, moving volunteers around, continually checking and counting open parking spots, and then of course helping to solve any problems that may occur!” says Wolfinger.
Both Kaufman and Wolfinger commented that their favorite part of A-Day was getting to see all their hours of hard work come to fruition. “Nothing beats the feeling of watching the hours of blood, sweat, and tears finally pay off in the end!” says Wolfinger.
“As busy and hectic as it can be, I still wouldn’t trade it for the world. My favorite part is 12pm on Friday seeing everything set up and our visions coming alive. People start walking up from D-lot to flood the quad and it’s such a smile worthy feeling,” says Kaufman. “The memories from A-Day are some of the best memories I will remember when I graduate. It’s truly amazing what a committed and passionate group of students can accomplish to bring our community together to promote agriculture.”
