By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Patrick Nelson makes sure the BGSU campus is busy over the summer.
Nelson, the director of the Bowen-Thompson Student Union and Conference and Event Services, works year-round to fill the beds that otherwise be empty residence halls.
That work has paid off. This summer BGSU will welcome about 11,500 overnight guests from June 3 to the first week of August. That’s a 15 percent increase over last year, which was a record.
Some will attend camps sponsored by academic programs, including the Summer Music Institute hosted by the College of Musical Arts, but also a marine biology camp in July. BGSU men’s soccer is also holding a camp.
Most of those will be outside groups, notably Buckeye Girls State, which returns to campus for a second summer, bringing about 600 delegates from around the state.
By far, though, the largest customer for BGSU event services is Christ in Youth, a national organization that sponsors summer camps for churches. Some of their events bring together young campers from several churches; some of their camps are organized for single, larger congregations.
Almost all of the guests coming to campus are teenagers.
Nelson said these young people would not otherwise visit BGSU. He estimates as many as 90 percent of those visitors live 100 miles or more from Bowling Green. “That’s exciting because that’s an ability to showcase our institution,” he said. “Nothing beats the experience of living in it.”
Nelson estimates these camps will bring in $3.5 million, and possibly more.
The popularity is an outgrowth of the pandemic. CIY, Nelson said, had been holding most of its camps at small, religious colleges. But when the pandemic shut those down, they had to look elsewhere. BGSU was ready to receive them.
Fewer colleges, Nelson said, are hosting camps. Many of BGSU’s own academic camps have moved to day camps or online.
But attracting them is just the beginning. The events services staff strives to get their return business.
Events services has to work around what else is happening on campus notably orientation and construction projects. Also, students in the Doctor of Physical Therapy program come in for their on-campus training. Add to that the occupational therapy doctoral program just approved by the trustees.
“It’s a crash course in craziness,” Nelson said. August move-in involves 5,500 hundred students. The camps turn over twice that many.
There might not be dance camp in the mix, but this involves some complicated choreography.
The biggest project is the completion of the HVAC upgrades to McDonald Hall. Nelson said the university hoping to get the project done by early summer so that space will be available for overnight campers.
Work at Kohl Hall, which involves HVAC and the restructuring of space on the first floor, has started. Once that’s done, campus will have more air-conditioned rooms available.
All this means parking lots and sidewalks being inaccessible. “It’s a maze,” he said. That’s a concern on the first day, Nelson said, but people adjust quickly.
Bringing in camps requires coordination among several divisions: BGSU Athletics, enrollment management, Information Technology Services, and Admissions.
Buckeye Girls State, which takes over the Bowen Thompson Student Union when it’s here June 9 through June 15. They need tech assistance for all the elections they conduct.
Orientations for in-coming BGSU students will not be held during that period.
Patrick said his office has to work with the campus sponsors to find ways to keep campers entertained during the off-hours. Last year with the Anderson Pool off-line for painting, he arranged for a night at the city pool.
That’s just one way that his office works with the city. The cooperative effort continues year-round to bring visitors to Bowling Green.
