Student Government Brings in the Nostalgia
BY: LAUREN JOHNS
Art & Life Editor
On Friday, Nov. 30, from 12 – 2 p.m., the Meramec Student Government Council held a screening of “The Breakfast Club.” It was a blast from the past in more way than one, since SGC used this event as a ‘Test Run’ to explore rekindling their Movie Night Traditions from years ago.
While some students were drawn to the event by the promises of free food and hanging out with friends, others went for the nostalgic factor.
“When I was on this campus five years ago, they had movie nights every Friday for a dollar, so I was curious about this,” said Stephanie Sheehan. “I enjoyed watching ‘Breakfast Club.’ Although, it was like being in high school all over again.”
According to Sheehan, she hopes this tradition will come alive again, with movie nights more than once a semester.
Campus life ended their past traditions due to lack of participation and they used to hire staff to work the events or rent out theaters which was expensive.
Aside from past traditions, Selma Johnson was more focused on the selected movie.
“I’d never seen ‘Breakfast Club,’ before today, but I’d give it a 7/10. I don’t normally watch movies like this; I’m more into the action genre,” said Johnson. “Or even Disney movies.”
The time of day worked well for him and his friends, but he said a morning time would’ve brought in a larger turnout, due to students working or being in afternoon classes.
Regardless of the lower turnout, Sarah Kelly, SGC Vice President said she believes that it was successful because people that weren’t usually involved in campus events showed up to watch the film.
“I do wish we would’ve advertised sooner,” said Kelly. “Maybe if we went to each club meeting and made a little announcement. I think most club representatives forgot to spread the word. Not to mention, at the SGC meeting many people were like, ‘Yes, we want this’, but then didn’t attend.”
Despite needing more advertising, there was an issue with the movie itself.
“Since this is an older movie, it’s easy to find,” said Kelly. “A lot of people would have watched it last week on Netflix and then think, ‘why should I see it here?’”
However, due to the law that requires anyone to purchase rights to a movie intended for larger audiences, older movies are significantly cheaper.
“Newer movies can reach up to $1,000. It’s not worth it for about 10 people to sit in a room,” said Kelly.
If “Breakfast Club” hadn’t been selected through an SGC voting session, Kelly said she would’ve had other ideas in mind.
“If it were up to me, we’d be watching ‘Parent Trap’ or some other Disney movie,” said Kelly.
The event was originally set to be held in the evening, but according to Kelly, that would require having an employee stay past the 6 p.m. closing time and it would be a daunting task to get students to come in that late.
“BSEEC had a movie at noon and it did pretty well,” said Kelly.
To Kelly, campus events are significant in how they open up new experiences and help students integrate into a larger community.
“A lot of students come to school and go home,” said Kelly. “So getting students to make new friends and do little things to change things up is worthwhile. If someone asks what you did today you can tell them, ‘I watched ‘Breakfast Club.’ It’s easy to get caught in this academic rut with finals coming up. But it’s important to relax and do other things that aren’t just academic based.”
When it comes to starting the movie tradition back up, Kelly claims there is no set answer on that front, as it still needs to be discussed.
