Students amass at the mall for neighborhood fair

This year's Eastern Neighborhood Fair didn't disappoint, with booths ranging from Mt. Spokane Ski and Snowboard Park to the Catholic Newman Center.

Student responses to the afternoon event were positive. Cheryl Gisselber said, "It was really cool. Last year it was in the MPR and everything was in rows. This year music was playing and I liked it better outside."

Urban Fashion was selling some of their latest and fashionable hip-hop gear, letting students know about their upcoming "Every item in the store $35" sale Oct. 1 - 4 to celebrate the grand reopening of the store. Bryn Gaustad, assistant marketing director of River Park Square in Downtown Spokane, was a very busy woman at her booth, giving away free Ben & Jerry's ice cream along with River Park Square coupons and catalogs. "We went through 200 cones in an hour, the kids were getting anything they could put ice cream in," said Gaustad.

Blades Design Group "Hair Fixery" was busy answering questions about hair products and hair myths.

Brittany Trambitas, a local hair designer, said that having the event outside really helped with exposure. Great Clips was also there to join in on the hair-care frenzy. Myris Sportsman was working the Mt. Spokane Ski and Snowboarding Park booth. "The response is good. We have college student passes for $269 until the end of October," said Sportsman. This region is known to have great places to ski and snowboard, and Mt. Spokane is close for those living in the Cheney/Spokane area.

Spokane Teachers Credit Union was also on hand giving away free popcorn and snow cones. Safeway and Costco were letting students sign up for membership cards, along with other local businesses like Cheney Rockwood Medical Clinic, Planned Parenthood, Holiday Inn Express, and The Cheney Free Press.

School clubs and groups also had tables set up. EPIC was giving out their fall schedule for fun and adventurous events. Intramural Club Sports, Eastern Environmental, Kappa Delta Chi Sorority, Black Student Union, along with others giving out information on events and letting students sign up.

Redgy Smith was answering student questions about the Academic Support Center and letting students know about his program, PLUS, which stands for: Program Leading to Undergraduate Success. Women's and Gender Studies and Africana Studies had information on majors and minors in those areas.

Melanie Villa is an EWU student who talked to students about the Eastern Advantage program. "Eastern Advantage was created to help reduce the financial barriers preventing students from reaching their higher education goals and providing support services to first generation students to achieve academic and personal success. Peer Mentors at Eastern Washington University guide freshmen and transfer Eastern Advantage students in adjusting academically and socially to the EWU environment and creating an effective transition into college and campus life. This is the first year this scholarship program will be put into practice. It offers 250 first generation students a full $1500 scholarship," Villia said.

Villia went on to say, "Over 30 signed up! We had previous mentors, previous (as we call them) "mentees"- those who were mentored last year, members of frats and sororities, and people who never even heard about our program. Also some teachers and other program leaders had asked us to present in their classroom with what we're doing. It was a great turn out!"

Max Batchelor student said, "I really loved it. I was happy they did it outside. It had a lot of variety. I felt odd seeing all the religious stalls-thought there was too much. They had really good music and I thought they did a great job."

The Neighborhood Fair is a great way to learn about news and events at Eastern and in and around Cheney. You can find more online at http://www.ewu.edu/x61322.xml or http://www.ewu.edu/x346.xml for club, organization, news and events.