Students win grocery items at Student Life Bingo night

Concordia students compete for grocery items in bingo.

Photo credit: Ben Frerking

By Ben Frerking

Students gathered in Janzow Tuesday night for Bingo and cereal themed snack bars, with grocery items serving as prizes for students who completed their Bingo cards. Different forms of Bingo were played throughout the night, creating an energetic atmosphere as students became increasingly engaged in the competition.

The Bingo event was organized by Student Life member and sophomore Cheyenne Vahl under the leadership of Anna Stumpf, the Student Life Director. When discussing ideas for the event, Vahl said the original idea came from Stumpf. While discussing possible giveaway items and incentives, Vahl suggested groceries, an idea that ultimately became the incentive for the event.

“We were discussing good ideas of, like things to giveaway, as incentives, and I mentioned groceries. And the idea kind of stuck, so we took it,” Vahl said.

Organizers expected about 30 students to attend, but Vahl said nearly 70 students came through and participated in the event, at times running out of Bingo cards and markers.

“We were anticipating 30-something people, and I think we’ve had close to 70 people walk through and play,” Vahl said. “We’re needed to get more grocery items and more Bingo cards. We ran out pretty fast.”

Freshman Cooper Reed, who helped with setup, announced the Bingo numbers and assisted with teardown, said the event was more successful than he expected. He said he has enjoyed the creativity of Student Life events, describing them as a fun way for students to spend time with friends.

“I think it was more of a success than I was expecting it to be. It was a great time. I thought it was fun,” Reed said.

For students like senior Timothy Dose, the grocery prizes added another incentive to the event. Dose said he enjoyed the Bingo games and liked the idea of groceries being used as prizes. He received strawberries during the event and suggested that future grocery prizes could be packaged together as meals, such as frozen pizza and a two-liter drink.

“I love the idea of groceries,” Dose said. “Like, get a frozen pizza, a two-liter thing of pop, and maybe some pie. And you put that as, like, a meal.”

While the event received positive feedback from students, Reed said there are still ways Student Life could improve future events, particularly through additional promotion.

“I think maybe overall just a little bit more marketing, if you will, for the event,” Reed said. He suggested using more posters and social media to make students more aware of upcoming events. Reed said it can be difficult for students to know what is happening on campus because event information is spread across different platforms.

However, he said Student Life did a good job promoting Grocery Bingo, noting that the event was advertised about a week in advance rather than only a day.

Vahl said she expects Student Life to host another Bingo event, with plans to have more grocery items and Bingo cards available for students.