The Student Outreach Committee began finalizing plans

for the Spring Semester. The events include Stuartstock,

a concert held on Slavin Lawn, featuring PC bands and

local bands. The Committee is currently entertaining ideas

for slogans for the concert t-shirts.

Student Congress's Outreach Committee met on Thursday, Jan. 21 to discuss the details of their upcoming spring events: Junior Leadership Conference and Stuartstock.

The Outreach Committee, led by Claire Seguin '08, is relatively new. Two years ago it was part of the internal and external Public Relations committee of Student Congress. When Congress restructured its committee, this group was formed with a unique purpose. "The job of this committee," Seguin explains, "is to represent the responsibility of the students. The other groups serve as a liaison to the student, managing students life affairs, this group works to get the school involved".

The Outreach Committee organized Midnight Madness, this fall in celebration of the beginning of the basketball season. This spring the committee is planning two events: Junior Leadership Conference and Stuartstock.

The Junior Leadership Conference (JLC) is an event that Congress hosts that gives juniors and seniors from all over Rhode Island a chance to develop their leadership skills. The day consists of five different activities on a range of topics such as time management, and diversity.

As committee member Chris Huber '10 describes, "This event is designed to help the leaders of tomorrow become better leaders today."

The conference will take place on April 5, from 8:00-4:00 It will be all day event held in Slavin Hall.

In order to attract students to this event, the group has been working with high school guidance counselors. Each member of the committee has five to six high schools that they are personally in contact. Five allotted students from each school will be chosen to attend. The students will receive applications from their guidance counselors and must be completed by March 14, 2008. One hundred students were involved in last year's conference, and 100 students is the projected target number of students for this year's conference as well.

The final topic of the night was Stuartstock, the third annual concert that plays host to PC bands. It will be held on Saturday, Apr. 19, from 2:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The concert is named after Rev. Stuart McPhail, O.P., the former vice president of students services. It began as a small event hosted in McPhail's, but last year it struck success when it moved outdoors onto the Slavin lawn. This year, event coordinator, Andy MacMannis '09, hopes for another big turnout.

MacMannis is optimistic that attendance this year will be up and, as he explains, "this is a free event . . . your ticket would be a blanket".

Of the featured bands, a majority of the members attend PC. Last year, 11 bands played; this year they are hoping for around 15 bands to make the concert a bit bigger. The bands are not paid for their participation, but rather play for the publicity. Although, many bands graduated last year, MacMannis still predicts a good selection of music. Any band who wishes to play is welcome to contact MacMannis; there is no audition required.

The bands will perform outside, on Slavin lawn, where there will be two stages. The committee decided that if inclement weather persists on the day of the concert it will be relocated indoors to McPhail's. Details concerning food and the final design of the Stuartstock T-shirt will be finalized at a later date.