Left to Right: Eric Smith, Krystal Vielman, Lil Jon, Gwen Dailey, and Justin Andrade
Gwen Dailey, Coordinator
Office of Student Involvement, University of Central Florida
Which program board(s) do you oversee and what is an example of their events?
I oversee Campus Activities Board and Late Knights.
Late Knights puts on monthly alcohol-alternative programs. Some of these events include a student showcase, pool parties, DJ battle, and usually inflatables.
CAB has eight committees: cinema, concert, comedy, fine arts, marketing, Mr & Miss UCF, special event, and speakers. Each committee hosts on-campus events throughout the year in varying size. Last year CAB hosted 64 events! One of my favorite events is Symphony Under the Stars; we work with the UCF Symphony Orchestra to host a concert outside at the end of the spring semester. The event brings together the students and the community. It’s always a great way to end a busy April.
What is your favorite part of your job?
My favorite part of my job is working with my students. I love working with the student through the whole process of planning an event. Specifically the concert or comedy shows. There’s so much that goes into the event and I really enjoy working with the student through all of it. They work so hard to have great events on-campus. It’s all rewarding during the event seeing students enjoying themselves and the board’s hard work paying off. There’s a lot of experience being gained by students on programming boards, it’s all worthwhile to see the growth and to see them make connections of their experience.
What advice do you have for a new member of the program board?
Take advantage of every opportunity! There’s always so much happening and you can gain a lot of experiences on a programming board, so take advantage of it!
Advice on how prepare for day of show:
Overprepare. Take steps the day or two before to prepare. Have the advance sheets easily accessible; create your own internal advance sheet with more details and volunteer schedule. Share those advance sheets! Having staff there you can trust who have advance sheets will be able to help if/when there’s a crisis. Having details and the day planned out can help mitigate all those little things that come up. It’s never too early to prep for day of. I try to do a lot of prep the day before, gathering materials from the office we’ll need, getting the check, having advance sheets, etc. this way the day of I’m not stressing because the printer isn’t working and I can’t print the advance sheets day of.
It’s going to be hectic, something could happen, but stay calm and trust yourself! Have a portable phone charger, take time to enjoy the show, bring snacks, and stay hydrated!
Keep up with GWEN, CAB, and LATE KNIGHTS:
Gwen’s Instagram: @gwenmdailey (for super cute cat pictures)
CAB: @ucf_cab
Late Knights: @ucf_lk