Credit: Nick Romanenko
Many people know
the RutgersZone at the Livingston Student Center as an awesome campus hangout.
The venue has a sports-themed event space where students relax between and
after classes for a few rounds of skee ball, pool, or air hockey. The Zone hosts parties for people both inside
and outside the Rutgers community, including birthdays, corporate happy hours,
and the occasional Bar and Bat Mitzvah and First Communion celebrations.
But fewer are
aware that the RutgersZone
is also an incubator for student entrepreneurs, some of whom are parlaying
internships at the facility into rewarding jobs in their chosen fields.
“The skills I’m now applying – time-management, creativity, thinking
outside the box, acting professionally in the workplace – are skills I picked
up working at the Zone,” says Alexandria “Ali” Intravatola, who graduated last
year from Rutgers School of Arts and Sciences with a major in public health through the Edward J. Bloustein School of
Planning and Public Policy and a minor in art
history.
After serving as
the Zone’s manager of programs, the Monroe Township native found work as
development administrative assistant at the New Jersey chapter of Make-A-Wish.
The national organization grants the wishes of children with life-threatening
medical conditions.
Alexandra Intravatola, a former Rutgers Zone student manager, now works for the New Jersey chapter of Make-A-Wish, which grants wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.
“Working at the
Zone definitely helped me land the job,” Intravatola says. “I planned all the
events in the space for students, and that experience as well as answering phones
and emails helped prepare me for functioning in an office setting and helping
out with special events.”
Another Zone “graduate”
is Rebecca Potts, a marketing major in the Rutgers Business School–Newark
and New Brunswick, now working for the Hess Corporation. The Brick native says she gained time-management
skills and the ability to be versatile under the guidance of Matthew Ferguson,
general manager of the Zone.
For his part,
Ferguson finds his protégés’ success welcome, but not surprising. “We had eight student managers last
year, and all of the seniors found jobs,” says Ferguson. “In addition to Ali
and Rebecca, two are working with PR firms, and another manager got a job with
a physical therapy rehabilitation center. You could say they’re defying the
odds.
“We’re very proud of the space, but we’re
just as proud that we’re providing a learning experience for our crew and
student managers. It’s important that they get real-world skills in this tough
job market,” says Ferguson, who wears several hats at Rutgers.
A 2005 graduate of University College who
received his master’s in city and regional planning from the Bloustein School
in 2008, Ferguson is an assistant director of student life as well as general
manager of the Zone.
The Zone opened for business in September
2010, featuring arcade and boardwalk games, a digital juke box, a 13-foot neon
sports ticker flashing college and pro-ball scores, and a customized
Rutgers-themed shuffleboard table.
New this year is a video game called “Dead
Heat,” a fast-paced competition that projects players’ photos as they sit
behind a wheel trying to outmaneuver each other. Ferguson installed the game in
response to student demand.
Visitors this year will find Thomas Sweet
ice cream on the menu in 15 or so flavors, the most popular of which seems to
be Chocolate Chip Cookie or Birthday Blast, with its hunks of embedded yellow
cake. Ferguson is also working with Thomas Sweet New Brunswick owners Jennifer
and Michael Schnur to develop an exclusive Rutgers flavor; cheesecake, brownie,
and chocolate-covered pretzels are in the running.
The space is partnering with campus units
such as the Rutgers Alliance for Sustainable Risk Reduction, part of the Center of
Alcohol Studies, and RU Sure?,
affiliated with the Center for Communications and Health Issues, to offer a live DJ, free ice cream, and
late-night programming on Thursday and Friday evenings.
Ferguson said the collaboration is designed
to offer a liquor-free environment for students; anywhere from 200 to 400 of
them show up weekly.
The Zone is attracting growing numbers of
people from surrounding areas seeking an unusual venue for their guests. “We do a personalized package for each event,”
says Ferguson. “The Zone is closed to the public during that time, and we work
with the hosts to design an experience that best suits their needs."
That might include setting up the outdoor
fire pit to grill S’mores, moving indoors to organize an air-hockey tournament,
or a putting competition with its own custom-designed sound track. “We treat it
like a full professional restaurant experience,” he says.
That’s where the 40-person, all-student
crew comes in. Working behind the scenes and interacting with customers and
party planners, they soak up those real-world skills in which Ferguson places
so much stock.
To prepare them, he arranges meetings with
professional counterparts at Madison Square Garden and at Dave & Buster’s
in New York; organizes a training session at an ice cream parlor on Long Beach
Island; and provides lessons in food safety, management philosophy, and CPR/First
Aid certifications.
Party hosts praise the student managers’
attention to detail and willingness to go the extra mile to ensure a
pleasurable experience.
“Everybody had a blast,” says Curry
Kellaway of Basking Ridge, who hosted a bachelor party for his best friend,
Scott Fitzgerald, on October 9, 2010.
The mechanic learned about the Zone while
installing a soda machine at the Livingston Student Center. The fact that “it
wasn’t the normal bachelor party thing” appealed to him. Kellaway said the
staff excelled at engaging the 15 or so guests in an Olympics-style competition
featuring basketball, skee ball, and
air hockey.
For more information about having an event at the Zone,
contact the Administration Office at 732-445-1315 or RutgersZoneEvents@Gmail.com.
Updated from original story that appeared in Rutgers Today October 2010.
