Even a hot day could not keep students away from computers, prizes and food at Tech Day on Wednesday.
Tech Day is an opportunity for students to learn what kind of technological resources the school has to offer. It also allows Cal State Long Beach students to talk personally with organizations and vendors about advancements in technology.
Students gathered around the Speaker’s Platform where booths were set up with iPads and computer screens open to vendors’ websites. Some of those booths housed campus organizations like Associated Students Inc., Academy Technology Services, Beach Scholarship and more.
Helping students with the CSULB Mobile App was Hieu Vu, who is a staff member for ATS.
“The idea of the mobile app is to supply students information they need,” Vu Said. “We have a simple survey to push so management can say that students are looking for these features. We are just here to collect information from students, staff and faculty to see what they want in the new app.”
A lot of the student organizations like ATS were at Tech Day to gather feedback on their online resources. ASI took surveys to get opinions from students about their website.
Meet Trivedi is a computer science graduate student, and is the lead web builder for ASI.
“There are way too many activities that ASI provides you that you can be part of. You can be a volunteer, or vote for us or even go to the game center and play video games,” Trivedi said. “There [are] so many things people do not know about the website. We just want students to get involved.”
On top of having campus stores like Amazon at The Beach, there were vendors like HP, Apple and Microsoft that came to showcase their products.
Chi Xiong, a junior psychology major, was working the Microsoft booth as a student assistant.
“Tech Day is to inform students about upcoming technology. It is to give them a heads up that we are moving,” Xiong said. “I feel like Tech Day benefits both staff and students because a lot of professors have students submit homework online and that benefits the economy.”
What attracted students the most at Tech Day was the “Fun Zone.” At the booth, students were able to spin a wheel for prizes that included a backpack, candy and a tote bag. Students could also enter into a free raffle for a chance to win an iPad, laptop or Chromebook.
If prizes were not enough to draw students in, the first 300 participants were served a pizza lunch.
“I heard about it on my BeachBoard homepage and I honestly came for the free laptop,” said Kelly Hall, a computer science junior attending the event. “I feel like the organizations like the scholarships that are on campus offer the most benefits and the people that came from other companies didn’t really benefit the students as much.”
Students came to Tech Day to get the specs on the latest devices, and some even left with new gear of their own.