Party on the Patio

Wednesday’s Party on the Patio may have seemed like the calm before the storm with multiple events lined up to coincide with the fall Richmond Community College semester.

Keeping with the theme of “Throw it Back,” Wednesday’s affair featured a myriad of 1980s and 90s-themed activities from beach volleyball to adding a bit of backpack flare with free custom-made buttons, along with free meals for kids from the RCC cafeteria.

“We have two more. It’s covering five weeks, every Wednesday from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The focus is right around our café and trying to get people to come in. Kids 12 and under get to eat free, while supplies last. Today, kids are getting free cheeseburger sliders,” said Wylie Bell, RCC director of communications and marketing. “… The theme this Wednesday is throwing it back to whatever decade is your favorite decade. We encourage people to come dressed if you like the 80s, the 60s or the 70s. It’s really family-focused, to give families something to do. We’re in July, kids are starting to get bored and looking for something to do.”

The Party of the Patio is not the only kid-friendly activity going on at RCC. Throughout the summer, Richmond County Libraries hosted numerous educational events at the Cole Auditorium, with Mad Science and Smokey the Bear – and a few local forest rangers – recently hosting symposiums on sound and fire safety respectively. Bell believes familiarizing families with the campus increases RCC’s increases community awareness and embeds them into the minds of future students whether a recent high school graduate, an adult looking for a new career path or a four-year college student looking to pick up a few summer credits.

“We’re just trying to get people on campus. Don’t forget about us during the summer … While you’re here, if you’re looking to enroll in the fall, stop by the career transfer center. One of our advisors will talk to you about that, financial aid, scholarships and different things you’ll need for the fall semester,” Bell said.

One year-round focus for RCC is its work studies program, which includes its cafeteria. With Wednesday’s kid visitors receiving free cheeseburger sliders, cafeteria staff including work studies participants utilized culinary skills to have a burger hot and ready to go whenever they received a visitor under 12 years old.

“We have a lot of work study students on campus. We fill positions in the café with them. We really push our work study program. We try to get our students in all areas of the college. I.T. is one area. We use a lot of IT students at our help desk. We even have some of our students working with our grounds department,” Bell said.

With the fall semester just around the corner, RCC will host two more “Party on the Patio” events before turning its attention to the fall semester.

“We cutting off party on the patio the week before the fall semester starts. Next week is future is so bright. That is really 80s related. Kids will make little stars and get some cool little sunglasses, and the next week we will have a treasure hunt … We will have a scavenger hunt, and that is August 7 ^th . August 14 ^th is when the students come back, and it will be real crazy here,” Bell said.

For more information about RCC, or upcoming RCC events, check them out on Facebook or go online at richmondcc.edu.