KSA hires new Events Coordinator

Matt Hunt hopes to create a sense of student presence at Kwantlen

The Kwantlen Student Association has a new events coordinator once again. Matt Hunt has joined the team, and he’s ready to use his past experience to make Kwantlen Polytechnic University a much more friendly campus for students to enjoy.

Hunt spent four years working for the Children with Intestinal and Liver Disorders Foundation as a fundraiser. At Ch.I.L.D, Hunt organized many events designed to bring in money for the organization.

Unlike with his previous position, as events coordinator Hunt is now responsible for using the resources available to the KSA in order to create high energy events for the benefit of the student body. Although the purpose is slightly different, the planning of events is nearly identical.

Hunt’s ultimate goal as event coordinator is to create a sense of student presence on campus.

“A lot of people have gotten the impression that Kwantlen is a commuter school,” says Hunt. “You come, you do classes, and then you go home. The KSA has brought me in to engage students to stick around after class.”

The forthcoming events which Hunt will be responsible for are still in the initial planning phases, but he says the Grassroots Cafe is going to be a big part of it. Hunt notes that the Grassroots already hosts the monthly poetry slams, and he thinks it would be “cool” to host other live events there.

One idea was having a regular open mic night. Another was bringing in live music, perhaps a battle of the bands.

In addition to putting forth his own ideas, Hunt really wants to understand what the students desire for each campus. In order to do that, he plans to reach out to the students through online surveys, social media, and the KSA website.

“Word of mouth is great, but it only works so much,” says Hunt.

Understanding the demographics of the school is something Hunt says is very important to putting on successful campus events. “There’s no point throwing an event where nobody is going to show up,” he says.

Two of the most important qualities for being an events coordinator are good communication skills and the ability to perform multiple tasks at once. Hunt says his past experience in fundraising, as well as his time with team sports and being in a band, has allowed him to develop these skills.

Hunt was part of the University of the Fraser Valley soccer team for four years, and he helped organize events for the school as well. In order to run these events smoothly, he had to be able to multitask.

“Some jobs you come in, you sit in your desk and you do this, this, and this before noon. An event planner is not like that,” says Hunt. “Being a successful event coordinator, you have to be able to a dozen different jobs at the same time.”

Ultimately, Hunt plans on making Kwantlen a place students will want to be rather than a place they have to be to get an education. He encourages all students to share with him ideas on how to do that.