Pandablast 2010

By: Marshall Hampson

At the beginning of every Fall semester, Associated Students Inc. puts on an event called Phlagleblast to get the students acquainted with the features of the University Union. Every section of the Union has an information table to help students understand what each section is there for.

By the looks inside of the University Union at Sacramento State on Sept. 15, the event’s longest line was found in front of Panda Express. 

Was it called Phlagleblast or Pandablast? It should have been called Pandablast.

By the way, Panda Express had nothing to do with the event.

Free prizes were given out throughout the day if students went up to each table and collected a stamp from a certain location. The event seriously felt like a party with balloons and streamers everywhere in the three-story building.

But the main attraction wasn’t giving out free prizes. In fact, it was still charging customers during lunch time.

With the new addition of Panda Express in the Hornets Nest, ASI under-estimated the power of Sac State’s favorite new chinese place. While every event table in the Union had around 4-5 students waiting for a stamp and information, Panda Express held a line far greater than any in the Union.

The line was constantly wrapping around the Hornets Nest for a solid half hour. Students who rushed out of their classes to the Union, appeared to be food deprived. With students waiting about 15 minutes to get their food in a massive line, more students followed the trend.

Loud music, balloons and streamers only added to the scene of a hungry student looking for food. Students rushed past the Java City on the first floor of the University Union and headed straight for Panda Express. Most students performed this without glancing at their surroundings. Talk about students on a mission.

The other scenario that was a constant theme was the fact that people who were participating in the free-prize giveaways, somehow got distracted.

Whether it was students getting bored of collecting stamps or it was that the students were hungry because it was lunch, Phlagleblast suffered. The line for Panda Express grew longer and longer and almost made it out to the University Union’s main lobby.

The main lobby is about 50 feet away from Panda Express. But last year, this whole trend didn’t take place.

The former chinese food restaurant, Kung Fu Fats, didn’t have the same effect. Sure, the restaurant provided good chinese food, but Kung Fu Fats does not have the name recognition like Panda Express does. 

Last year, students focused on the event on hand and seemed more involved with what was actually going on in the Union. This year just seemed like a mad rush to Panda Express.

Sac State made a smart decision by replacing with Kung Fu Fats with Panda Express. It’s popular, the students enjoy it and it is obviously making a lot in sales since being open.

Phlagleblast still did its job by informing students and getting students involved with activities in the University Union. But you could wonder if ASI expected a chinese restaurant to draw students away from the annual event and create a hype bigger than the actual event.