The students in Tammie Stenger-Ramsey’s Recreation Program Planning class aren’t the type to wait around.

Rather than sit in a classroom, the students are churning out events to raise money for a minority student scholarship.

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Those taking REC 306 are planning to host Big Red’s Throw, a cornhole tournament, after Thanksgiving break to raise money for the Mark “the Shark” Williams Scholarship primarily given to minorities. 

The tournament is taking place Nov. 28-30 and Dec. 2, 5, and 7 on the South Lawn during the 11:30-12:25 class block. 

“I came to my class and said, ‘Alright, think about things that college students would pay a few dollars to do that would raise money and get this thing built up,'” Stenger-Ramsey said. 

Stenger-Ramsey, the Recreation Administration Coordinator for WKU, said the scholarship goes to recreation administration students and that priority is given to minority students. This year’s goal is to raise $2,500. 

“We need a few more thousand dollars in the account so that it can become a fully-endowed scholarship,” she said. “Then we’ll be able to offer it forever.”

The namesake of the scholarship, Mark “the Shark” Williams, worked in the recreation department for 13 years and taught a Campus Recreation course for 20 years. 

“As well as being a great advocate for our program, he had recruited a ton of students for the recreation major,” Stenger-Ramsey said. “We wanted to honor him for his efforts.”

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Jenna Woosley, the student representative for the Kentucky Recreation and Park Society, said the upcoming events are great opportunities for recreation students at WKU to get important field experience.

“Programming, for recreation majors, is putting together an entire event,” said Woosley, a Brownsville senior. “Networking between the people who attend, food, parking – all of these things are aspects that go into a program or event.”

Big Red’s Throw is not the only event for which Stenger-Ramsey’s class is preparing. From 6 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday in Diddle Arena, the students of REC 306 will hold Future Professionals’ Night, a social event for recreation majors in the region.

“The students are hosting that event to try to help all of the students in recreation from across the state link up with professionals and to help build their networks,” Stenger-Ramsey said.