By Claudia Guerra

Coming to campus early in the morning can be a drag, but a free cup of coffee can turn everything around. Especially when it’s blended with sweet caramel and it’s free.
CAB Coffee is one way the Campus Activity Board tries to encourage students to participate in the campus events it promotes.
“It’s really nice to do things like CAB coffee,” CAB member Armando Ramirez said. “It makes me feel good that they appreciate little things like that.”
When it was formed in 2006, CAB was originally known as the Student Programming Board. The name was changed in 2009 because “CAB” was more about promoting a variety of activities.
“It’s not just programs,” CAB advisor Janet Foreman said. “We do other things too, and so it just seemed to fit better.”
CAB has helped organize many campus events, including a concert by singer and fiddle player Natalie Stovall last year. The group also planned the dining etiquette event in November.
CAB is also beneficial because it gives student the opportunity to gain experiences they can carry on to a four-year school or use in their careers.
“It’s really hands-on training. It almost serves as an internship,” Foreman said. “We don’t say they’re interns, but it kind of is [like an internship] because they’re helping with events.”
CAB member Mari Kendrick said volunteering with CAB has helped her learn new skills for when she leaves Eastfield.
“It’s teaching me how to plan and how to market,” she said. “I love to help other people and get more people involved. They’re free activities. We just want you to come and support [the school].”
Since the students are the ones in charge of organizing events, they must come up  with a plan and stay within a budget.
For the Spring Fling event, CAB members had to locate a venue, decide what food to serve and find someone to DJ the event.
Because KISS-FM is well known in the area, they thought hiring a DJ from the station would be perfect for the event. However, what they thought was a great plan turned out to be a learning experience for the crew.
“We paid more because we thought it was going to be better,” Ramirez said. “It wasn’t. The DJ didn’t interact a lot with the students like our other DJ would have. It was disappointing.”
The CAB students work hard to provide entertaining events, but a lot goes into the planning process. Sometimes it can be overwhelming.
“It’s stressful when it comes down to the event,” Ramirez said. “We have to call vendors and figure out the catering. We have to negotiate prices and figure out what we should and shouldn’t bring.”
Next year the members are planning to recruit more musicians and comedians to perform on campus. Students are also encouraged to bring in ideas, even if they are not a member of CAB.
CAB  will be offering workshops during the summer for students interested in joining the team.
Applications are available in the Student Life office.