As part of Welcome Week, the Associated Students of Skyline College held a barbecue in the cafeteria. The student governing body gave out five hundred burgers in an attempt to reach out to students and raise awareness of its role on campus.

“We want people to know about the Associated Students and that we’re here to support them, but we also want them to feel welcome on campus,” said Heidi Hansen, President of the Associated Students of Skyline College.

Students began serving food at 11:00 a.m. Students and faculty had their choice of a burger, chips, drink, and a cookie, all free of charge.

“I think it’s good that students come to open doors, especially new students,” Hansen said. “They’ll start to see the community . . . so Welcome Week is just to try and make them feel comfortable here.”

New students like Karen Jakobs, a first-time Skyline student from Germany, found the event to be a friendly welcome.

“I like [Welcome Week]; we don’t have this in Germany,” said Jakobs. “I like the free burgers. Everyone is really nice here”

Hansen also wanted to stress that as well as welcoming back students both old and new, this and future events are a way of reminding students that the student government is there for them.

“I hope that they know who and what the [Associated Students of Skyline College] is. . . . We’re here to serve them,” Hansen said. “I think that a lot of people know us for our Welcome Weeks, and they expect us to keep going. It’s a reminder that the [Associated Students of Skyline College] is still around and still kicking.”

Ryan Ledesma, a returning student who remembers past Welcome Weeks, thought that the event was a nice way of starting the new academic year.

“It’s going to be a very hectic year with school, work, time management . . . but  if every day were like this, I might stay longer,” Ledesma said jokingly.  “This is cool. I mean we’ve had free food before, but burgers really set the mood.”

The event was scheduled to go on until 2:00 p.m. or until the food ran out. The event ended at 12:30 p.m., officially running out of food an hour and a half into the event.

“I am happy that the event went so well; everyone seemed to like it,” Hansen said. “People seemed really excited.”

Although the event ended earlier than expected, Hansen felt that even within that short amount of time, the intended message of “Welcome back” came across clearly.

This was helped by Hansen herself taking orders and handing out food directly, but not before saying; “Compliments of the student body.”