2008 Woodie Awards
SMA sells sweethearts for Valentine's Day
By Caleb Pardick
Rocket Editor-in-Chief
Issue date: 2/17/06 Section: Life
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A car wash? Not in February.
A bake sale? Too fourth grade.
So the sport management majors that make up SMA decided to sell something else, something a bit more personal: themselves.
And they did, pawning off their time, social lives and Valentine's Day night at the second annual SMA Date Auction that took place Tuesday night in the University Union's Multi-purpose Room.
Students were encouraged to take their pick from the 18 eligible bachelors and bachelorettes that SMA had to offer.
Beth Wilson, co-chair of the SMA board, and Montelle Sanders, a graduate representative, took their best shots at auctioneering the event, which began just after 8 p.m. All proceeds went toward the sport management department scholarship fund.
With bids starting at $5, all of the 18 dates up for auction found takers. After each date had been auctioned off, the couples then selected from the prize board, a makeshift poster adorned with paper hearts that held gift certificates for local restaurants and theaters.
Each of the dates up for auction were introduced by either Wilson or Sanders, with a song of their choosing playing softly in the background as they strutted their stuff across the MPR stage. A PowerPoint slide displaying the date's age, height, favorite food, hobbies and pickup line of choice was projected behind the bachelor or bachelorette.
Sanders explained afterward that the idea of a date auction was something that he thought would be appreciated by students.
"I came up with the idea last year," he said. "We were just trying to think of ideas to raise some money and we threw out all the normal stuff that clubs do to raise money, but we didn't really like any of them. I suggested this (the date auction) and the board seemed to like the idea a lot, so we just went with it."
Sanders just went with it throughout the night as well, trying to coax the uncertain crowd into throwing their money down to get a date with one of the 18 sport management majors.
"Keep dancing!" Sanders yelled out a few times to the dates on stage.
Sanders was hoping to draw a reaction that would elicit more money from more bidders.
Tom Beiber, co-chair of the SMA board along with Wilson, drew a large cheer when he emerged on stage in dress clothes and a backpack, a clash that seemed to make the crowd even livelier. Beiber, 21, then opened up the backpack to reveal a pair of roses that he had held in reserve for the winning bidder.
When Beiber's bids began to stall, Sanders enticed the crowd once more.
"Do y'all see that sexy piece of man candy up on stage?" Sanders said.
Sanders efforts weren't in vain, as bidders upped the ante to $30, the highest bid at that point in the evening.
Brandon Berns, the final male up for auction, also stirred up the crowd a bit, taking the stage as Rocky, dressed in the SRU mascot's garb and wearing boxing gloves with "ARC" emblazoned on the sides.
Sanders and Wilson tried to bait the crowd into emptying their wallets for Rocky as well, prompting several students to inquire about the acceptance of Rock Dollars or Flex Fund Dollars for their bids.
After Sanders and Wilson decided that in no way could SMA accept such currency, the bidding ended. Rocky's final price: $20.
As the night neared its end, Karen Harman, 22, took the stage, drawing multiple bids in a matter of seconds.
After Michael Wacht's bid of $44.99 was trumped by a single cent, Wacht fell victim to the peer pressure of his fellow bidders and placed what would be the final (and highest) bid of the evening: $50.
Harman, a senior, later explained that Wacht's bid wasn't exactly an option.
"I made him do it," Harman said jokingly. "He's my boyfriend, so he kind of had to, I guess."
Wacht, a computer information technology major, said that his $50 was well spent.
"It's for a good cause, and I strongly support the program, so it was no big deal," Wacht, 23, said.
Harman echoed Wacht's thoughts.
"It's all for a great cause, and it's a lot of fun," Harman said. "It's an easy way to have a good time and for people to get to meet other people, too."
Sanders, who said this will be his final date auction appearance, also said that continuing the event in the future is something he'd like to see.
"As long as it's successful, and we can raise some money, let's keep it going," he said. "It's popular with the students, and we have a lot of fun with it."
