Wayne State College’s clubs and organizations kicked off the Thanksgiving season by participating in the annual Turkey Drop outside of Niehardt Hall on Nov. 8.

For the past 24 years, the official WSC radio station, 91.9 “The Cat,” has hosted the Turkey Drop. The clubs and organizations registered for the Turkey Drop and selected a “turkey”- a random item that ranged from food items to club props. The groups then met outside Niehardt Hall’s fire escape where officials from “The Cat” dropped their items off the fire escape.

The Turkey Drop was inspired by an episode of the television series, “WKRP in Cincinnati.” The episode involved a promotional event for the series’ radio station, in which people dropped actual turkeys out of a helicopter, before they realized that turkeys were not the best flyers.
Professor Dr. Michael Marek, the coordinator of the event, believed the purposes of this event were fulfilled.

“There are two goals,” Marek said. “One is just to recognize that Thanksgiving is coming up, and turkeys resonate with Thanksgiving. For our radio station, it’s a fun event for the campus and the community, but it’s also a learning experience for the students. We have to plan this event, and we have to promote it, and we have to make sure we have all the details ready.”

Judges presented awards to the following clubs: Lambda Pi Eta for “Best Dressed,” Kappa Kappa Psi for “Sharpshooter,” Wildcat PR for “Longest Hangtime,” the S.P.O.R.T.S. Club for “Biggest Splat,” and The Wayne Stater for “People’s Choice.”

Payton Parks, the vice president of Wildcat PR, felt pleased at how her group’s idea, “Colors of the Wind,” turned out.

“We always love participating in the Turkey Drop,” Parks said. “It’s such a cute event. Every year, it’s always so cold, and we still love coming out here. We did ‘Colors of the Wind’ because we wanted to get ‘Longest Hangtime,’ and we actually won, which is just the icing on top of the cake.”

Emmalee Scheibe, the general student manager of the radio station, believed the effort put into promoting the event was worth the results.

“We had some new clubs come out this year, like S.P.O.R.T.S. Club and Delta Sigma Pi,” Scheibe said. “We had 12 entries this year, which is the most we’ve had in the past couple of years, so I was excited for that. A lot of radio stations do promotions, so this is a great way to do that. Just working together as a team is really beneficial.”

For 24 years, the Turkey Drop has helped spark excitement for the Thanksgiving season. The clubs and organizations at WSC are certain that “The Cat” will continue this tradition in the years to come.