‘Humber Game’ fundraiser for scholarships

Isabelle Ferrante: Sports Reporter

Second-year students from the Humber Recreation and Leisure Service program took over the LRC to raise money for future program scholarships.

This year’s Hunger Gamesthemed event, called ‘Humber Games’, saw students participating in activities like Jenga, Corn-hole, Connect 4, cup stacking, and a Hunger Games quiz to earn prizes.

This was all part of a summative assignment for student AJ Sousa and his entire class.

They were tasked with coming together to hold an event and work through the different aspects to make the event successful.

Sousa said the initial stages were the hardest part.

“Our biggest challenge was deciding and coming to a decision with so many people,” he said.

“The big reason was too many hands in the pot because our entire class had a huge discussion about what we should do for the theme.”

The fundraising goal they set for this year is two thousand dollars, and he feels like they can surpass it.

The fundraising starts before entering the games. Students are asked to make a donation and with that they are promised a corresponding prize after all the games are played, the bigger the donation, the better the prize.

It is an opportunity for the students to execute a project from start to finish. They learn how to budget, how to market, how to rent space, how to recruit people, and how to come up with ideas that are going to be enticing for people to attend.

They also learned about sponsorship, and how important it is in event planning.

This year they were able to sell Krispy Kreme doughnuts and give away prizes that were donated by sponsors like the Town of Caledon and the City of Mississauga through outreach.

One of the sponsors, Wil McLean, owner and creator of Pursuit OCR and Rollerpony, said being just a small part of the event is special.

“Every year they try to raise a minimum of a thousand dollars, which covers two scholarships,” he said.

“Last year, from what I understand, it was four scholarships that they managed to raise money for.”

McLean is not a stranger to these Humber students, he is part of some of the faculty programs where he appears as a guest and does shark tank-type events and then also mentors the students as well.

Program Coordinator Ashwin Patel said participating in these types of events helps students prepare for the future.

“Once they get into the rec and leisure industry, these are the things that some of them are going to be doing on a day-to-day basis and by doing it here they get an opportunity to do it in a safe space,” he said.

“I always get kinda emotional and excited about seeing them be able to do these things and I think recognizing that the limits that they put on themselves can be raised, that they can do even more than they previously thought that they can.”

Sousa is grateful he gets to not only participate in planning the event, but also has an impact on someone who is going to be in his shoes in the future.

“However much money we raise today our profit is going towards a scholarship for the 2025 graduating class of Rec and Leisure students.”