The lights didn't extend far enough, some props weren't finished and the tools were missing. Jenny Chen started to worry. It was finally the big day.
On Friday night, the senior business and communication major organized the seventh-annual Hillery Park Elementary School dance with her classmates in Communication 317: Business/Professional Communication. The goal was to not only gain experience in business management, but to also inspire Buffalo youth to stay in school and dream of a college education.
But first, the UB students needed to finish transforming the elementary school gymnasium into a faux Hollywood red-carpet event. Chen, the team leader for the project's Creative Design Department, adapted to the circumstances and changed the layout slightly. Still, the decorations - which included rich red cloths, twinkling lights, movie star cutouts and posters - were among the most memorable aspects of the dance, said Mary Beth Debus, an adjunct communication professor who teaches the class.
Debus believes the only way to instill lessons in her students is to teach them skills in the classroom and have them immediately implemented on a community project. Each year, she assigns her class the project of hosting the school dance as a way to show them how multiple departments in a business work to achieve one goal.
In the beginning of the semester, the students write resumes, go on interviews and apply for positions on the project's teams, which include Creative Design, Procurement, Planning and Logistics and Finance.
Hillery Park Elementary School gave the class $400, but the students fundraised to increase their budget. They also partnered with Buffalo Wild Wings and received a donation of food for the event, according to Josh Rubin, a senior communication major. For him, the joy came from seeing the children smile as they enjoyed one of the last big events of their school year and started thinking about their futures.
Over the past few years, the interaction between Debus' students and the children has led to an increase in attendance rates and discipline within their own classrooms, Debus said. They don't want to risk having to miss the dance because of a suspension, according to Debus.
"Students have come back to [Principal Maria Miller] and said: 'It's because of my experience with the students at UB that I'm doing what I'm doing today,'" she said. "Certainly, that's not [the experience] all the students [have], but just to even make that difference with a few students is an added bonus of doing this project."
The communication students acted as paparazzi and took fake photos of the children as they entered the Grammy Awards-like event. As the night went on, many children wanted to befriend the college students and asked them about what their lives are like and what could be expected from the college experience. They also bonded over games like trivia and a beanbag toss, leaving a "lasting impression" on the children, according to Maggie Hoeltke, a Hillery Park staff member.
In a letter to Debus' class, Hoeltke thanked the students for hosting the "top-notch" event and said: "They will remember this as one of the special moments in their lives."
The event was just as important for the UB students. Chris Cozzens, a senior computer science major, has already used the experience to get a project management job in New York City at EMC, a company that specializes in cloud computing.
Hillery Park students are already looking forward to next year's event, in which Debus will again assign the project of hosting the dance to her students - an experience from which both schools' students prosper.
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