VCU business students to Rock the Hat, fundraise for veterans
Hat Factory benefit to raise money for veterans
Ninety-four students from the School of Business spent their classtime in Organizational Behavior planning Rock the Hat, a concert to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project.
Mark Robinson
Assistant Spectrum Editor
In the wake of Veteran’s Day, a contingent of VCU students in the School of Business has planned a concert to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project to benefit members of the armed forces.
Rock the Hat is scheduled from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. this Saturday at the Hat Factory. The concert is advertised as featuring five bands, but according to the Facebook event page, more may be announced.
Bands booked include Newport News modern pop-rock outfit Chasing Arrows, Richmond rock cover group Monkey Fist and Solace Sovay, an indie rock trio of VCU students.
The event was entirely planned by students from three sections of Organizational Behavior, an upper level course offered through the School of Business taught by Dr. Randy Sleeth; in total, 94 students have taken part.
Though the purpose of the assignment was to conceive a community service project to raise money for a cause, the intention was to teach the students how to function as a structured organization.
Accordingly, the students created a hierarchal organization that includes a president, project manager, three senior managers, 11 committee chairpersons and their coinciding committees.
Each committee is comprised of six to 10 students and is responsible for a specific aspect of the performance, be it promotion, fundraising or setting up each band’s equipment at Saturday’s performance.
Kaitie Comstock, a senior real estate and land development major, is the organization’s project manager. She believes the organization’s work can serve more than just an academic purpose.
“We see this project as something bigger than becoming a successful organization,” she said. “It’s an opportunity to help those who have willingly and unselfishly given so much of themselves to ensure we stay safe in the comfort of our homes.”
The students decided to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project after it was suggested by Jason Farlow, one of the project’s three senior managers and an Army veteran.
According to its website, the Wounded Warrior Project is a non-profit organization that aims to “honor and empower wounded warriors” by raising public awareness of their needs and gathering donations to help pay for injured service members’ needs.
Like many of the students working on the project, Comstock has a personal tie to the armed forces. Her boyfriend, Capt. Mike Child of the 82nd airborne division, will serve his second tour of duty when he is deployed to Afghanistan in January 2012.
After hearing the news of her boyfriend’s deployment, Comstock vowed to work to raise as much money as possible for the Wounded Warrior Project.
“We need to raise awareness of those who still need help recovering,” she said, “whether it’s the Korean War veteran who is still struggling with PTSD or the 23-year-old Iraq veteran who is having difficulty learning how to walk with her new prosthetic leg after losing her leg in an IED attack.”
Rock the Hat tickets cost $10 for general admission or $5 with a valid student ID. The event is free for anyone with a military ID. All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Wounded Warrior Project.
[sws_grey_box]For more information about the Wounded Warrior Project, visit their website at www.woundedwarriorproject.org/. [/sws_grey_box]
Graphic courtesy of The Wounded Warrior Project.
