Being able to pie a professor in the face is something most students only dream of being able to do, but students who attended Maysfest got to do just that.
On Wednesday, students on West Campus were treated to Maysfest, an annual event outside the Mays Business School, featuring food vendors, booths with local businesses, inflatable games and live entertainment. The event was hosted by the Student Business Council, and has grown over the past few years to become the big event it is now, according to vice president of Career Fair and business honors senior, Loryn Setterquist.
“It really got transformed our freshman year, when it became more of an event,” Setterquist said. “It used to be really small, like one booth of pizza rolls.”
Setterquist said Maysfest is important because it demonstrates a strong sense of community for students.
“I think it’s a really good opportunity to have community with people from Mays and West Campus just on a random Wednesday,” Setterquist said. “I think that our school is really special in that we can just all come out and talk and have fun like this.”
The event showcases more than just a community, and gives a fun time to students in the weeks before finals, according to Student Business Council Events Vice President and marketing senior Katie Morey.
“The main goal is student and staff appreciation,” Morey said. “It’s just a day to give back to Mays Business School. We’re in that sweet spot where finals are close but they’re not so close that’s stressful, but all of your other tests are kind of done. It’s just a really fun time to celebrate where we are at and what we’re doing.”
Although Maysfest has been around for a while, in recent years it has grown and one of the goals of organizers is to keep the progress going, according to Morey.
“The past couple years it’s definitely gotten bigger,” Morey said. “I always tell my team to figure out what new thing to do each time, like adding live music last year or adding in sponsorships. I feel like Maysfest just comes as a surprise, people show up just like ‘Oh it’s Maysfest today’ and we want to make it more of an anticipated event that people are like counting down for.”
One of the highlights of Maysfest was a booth where students were given the opportunity to pie a professor, with profits from the booth going to Habitat for Humanity, according to Informational Systems 210 Professor Theresa Phinney, Class of 1981.
“They came to the professors who teach the largest sections because we’re the ones who are really visible to a lot of undergraduates,” Phinney said. “I have a real soft spot for Habitat because I think what they do is an outstanding thing and we’ve been doing fundraisers for the whole year so that our business school faculty, staff and students can build a house. It’s a really great charity and one I feel really strongly about.”
The booth offered students an opportunity to get back at professors who taught a difficult class while giving back to the community by charging $5 per pie.
“The hardest thing is convincing these kids that $5 was worth it, like a Starbucks trip, you know? We even used Venmo so you didn’t have to have cash,” Phinney said. “My favorite one was the first young man that pied me. He said that seven semesters ago I gave him his first ‘B’ at A&M, and I believe he was holding this inside all this time and he gave me a good one.”