Student Government passed a motion at the Sept. 28 meeting to donate $400 to a Guitar Hero event hosted by a Relay for Life team that aims to raise money for the American Cancer Society.
Aaron Nikles, senior mechanical engineering major and captain of the relay team, presented the donation request.
“I’ve been a team member and founder of the team for the relay here at Wilkes, and this will be my fourth year,” Nikles said. “Since it’s my senior year, I want to go out with a bang, so I want to try to raise more than I’ve raised combined these past three years.”
The Guitar Hero event will take place over two days. Tentatively scheduled dates are Saturday Oct. 22 and Sunday Oct. 23 in the Student Union Building.
Events on Saturday will include a Pay-to-Play event. Costs will be $1 for five songs, $5 for three hours of play, and $10 for all-day game play. There will also be challenges in guitar, bass, female vocal, male vocal and drums. On Sunday, a tournament with a buy-in cost of $5 will be held. Tournament levels will range from easy to expert.
Prizes will be in the form of cash or gift cards. Projected prize amounts include $20 per challenge winner, $40 for an easy level tournament, $55 for a medium, $80 for a hard, and $95 for an expert.
Corresponding Secretary Kevin Hopper discussed the importance of having these prizes to entice students to participate, providing his support for the donation request after the presentation.
“As far as the prize money goes, I think [Nikles] does need to offer some cool prizes because it’s a weekend to start with – we come from a pretty apathetic university, kids go home on the weekends,” Hopper said. “And as far as the interest, if he always has 150 people signed up for it, and they’re all paying $5, I’m sure he’ll definitely beat his record last year for the amount he raised, so I think it’s an awesome event.”
All proceeds from the event will go to the American Cancer Society Relay for Life.
According to the Facebook page for the event, sign-ups for the event will be held in the Henry Student Center during club hours and on the first day of the event.   Other business covered at the Student Government meeting included a community flood relief update. Regular Wilkes shuttles have stopped going to flood relief sites. However, any clubs or groups interested in setting volunteer times would be able to arrange for transportation.