CloudFest is a part of Huskies First Four Weeks This is the first year CloudFest was offered as part of this series of events. Other events offered every year include dance parties, a hypnotist, and a block party.
St. Cloud State offers these events because studies show that students who get involved by attending events and joining organizations are more likely to have higher GPA’s, stay in school, and graduate on time.
Due to the change in student population over the last three to five years, as well as the amount of time students spend in digital spaces, it can be more difficult to engage students. The goal of CloudFest was to craft an event that would appeal to the “Instagram crowd”. They did this by creating highly shareable opportunities such as Goat Yoga and free food, for example, that students would be eager to share online. This was strategically paired with useful activities and information on health and wellness.
The event had a great turnout, bringing in about 500 students. The activities were full all night and students got great content for their social media.
Goat Yoga was the most shared activity of the night, about 300 students participated and many more stopped in to take photos with the goats.
The event was put on by the Department of Campus Involvement together with co-sponsors Campus Recreation St. Cloud State Fitness, Athletics, Healthy Huskies, UPB and UChoose.
