On March 27, 2008 in the Student Union Building (SUB), Central Washington University's (CWU) Summer Session program and KCWU 88.1 The 'Burg co-sponsored a rock festival in order to disseminate information to students about summer course offerings, registration, financial aid and other department services. With a strong student presence and significant logistical help from the Student Union's Scheduling Services, the event was a great success.

As a part of this year's Summer Session marketing campaign, "Rock Your Summer!," the rock festival was comprised of several small programs. The day began with a Guitar Hero contest for students. CWU students, Tyler Johnson and Evan Belfiglio, designed the contest and handed out prizes to the 1st place winner, R.J. LaCount, and 2nd place winner, Blaine Brown. The two students rocked the house with their fast moving fingers.

Following the Guitar Hero contest, there was a panel discussion in The Pit consisting of music industry professionals: Jim Wolf, co-founder of AEI Music and former song writer for NBC Sports, Melina Backholm, singer/song writer for the jazz band, Zona Calda, Wayne Hunt, CWU alum and former member of the local band The Greasewood City Ramblers, and Joshua Powell, Program Director of the Vera Project, an all-ages and arts venue in Seattle. Allen Larsen, CWU employee and owner of Cascade Productions recording studio, was the panel moderator. The speakers shared about their experiences of getting involved in the music industry and what education (formal or informal) that helped them along the way. An engaging question and answer period with the student audience followed at the end of the panel presentations.

The next events, which ran simultaneously, were a Rock Climbing contest sponsored by University Recreation and a Battle of the Bands contest. Ryan Hopkins, Coordinator of Outdoor Pursuits and Rentals, ran the Rock Climbing contest. The winners were CWU students, Jeremiah Eberhardt and Megan Brech.

The Battle of the Bands involved six student bands, who played two songs each, and were judged by the music industry professionals from the previous rock panel and CWU student Tyler Johnson. The bands were the Van Eps, Glenn, One Up, Two Down, Sarlacc, Contaminator and the Whatchamacallits.

Student Zach Hammond from KCWU 88.1 The 'Burg was the emcee. Zach did a great job interacting with the bands, student audience and The 'Burg's live radio broadcast of the contest, which was coordinated by The 'Burg's Jesse Simon. Besides airing each band's songs and feedback from the judges, The 'Burg's live broadcast also included Zach's brief public announcements about Summer Session's registration dates, online course offerings and student services.

After counting up the results from the judges' score cards, the winners were announced by Zach. The 1st place prize, a $500 gift certificate to the Wildcat Shop, went to the band, Sarlacc. The 2nd place prize, a $300 gift certificate to the Wildcat Shop, went to One Up, Two Down. And the 3rd place prize, a $100 gift certificate to the Wildcat Shop, went to Contaminator.

During all these entertaining events, there was a $1 menu barbecue outside the west entrance of the SUB, which Chef Kevin Camarillo from Dining Services created. Additionally, there were over a dozen information tables running along the upper level of the ground floor. From financial aid and student employment opportunities to specific course offerings, students received a range of information relevant to Summer Session. Many of the departments staffing information tables stated that they received some of the highest student traffic they ever had experienced at such an event. This was good news to hear for the Office of Continuing Education (CE), who oversees Summer Session for CWU. CE's staff is grateful to all the individuals and departments that participated in the rock festival. We look forward to a successful Summer Session 2008.

For more information on Summer Session 2008, including photos from the rock festival event, please go to www.cwu.edu and click on the link to Summer Session.

 Listen to the new 2008 Summer Session single here!