Behind the Scenes: The Mustang Station Way

Coming Together

When our group first came together, we struggled a little bit with finalizing our topic. We went from thinking about writing on the downtown bar scene, to writing on how the bars affected the neighborhood, to Mustang Station.

Once we decided we would write about Mustang Station, we needed to come up with our angle. We realized that not many of us knew all about the new “pub” and we had questions on how it operated on campus.

Who checked ID’s? What would happen if an underage student was caught drinking? Are we allowed to drink beer anywhere on campus? How did Cal Poly become an official wet campus? Are we actually “wet” or “semi-wet”?

These were the questions we needed answered and we were ready to tackle them. Brittany Tesmer and I had the PR role and we quickly began to speak to people on their thoughts.

Interviews

We had to change the angle of our story very quickly when Mustang News reported on the new pub. Their angle was how the pub came about and what paved the path for Cal Poly to make the campus “wet”.

We changed our angle to focus on the rules and regulations of the pub, how it effects the campus environment, and what the future holds for Mustang Station.

“We should focus on how to balance having a wet campus now and underage drinking. We would focus on the policies, what happens if your caught drinking underage, what you can or cannot do now.” -Vinny Van Patten

I wanted to initially get the thoughts of the general public on the new pub. Most people had similar questions as we did. Brittany worked on getting thoughts from Cal Poly Corporation since they had a lot of input into the venue.

As I was speaking to the cashier about how IDs are checked, one student went over to him to ask if he was allowed to bring his beer into Mustang Way, the bowling alley. The cashier said it was against the rules and that all beer had to stay inside.

After speaking with the cashier, I went to talk to the student that had asked him the question. The student suggested that they should break down the wall that separates Mustang Station and Mustang Way to create a nicer environment to drink and play.

We realized his wish was granted when we spoke to ASI Facility Supervisor, Warren Chang.

warren

Warren Chang told our team in a broadcast interview that they had just changed their rules to allow beer into Mustang Way. It looks like the rules and regulations have been changing based on students’ input.

Avrah Baum did the broadcast portion and we had some trouble with the audio at first. The mic wasn’t working and so we ended up having to interview Warren Chang twice. It helped me learn to always bring an extra audio recorder and to always record with two devices in case one doesn’t work.

“There will always be technical issues with Broadcast. You just need to be prepared for it.” -Avrah Baum

With that in mind, Avrah and I were ready to interview Chief of Staff, Jessica Darin. We brought in extra batteries, extra mics, and set up in her office to ask her how she felt about Cal Poly being a newly wet campus.

office

Unfortunately, Jessica said she didn’t want to be on camera to answer those questions. She explained that since she has only been at Cal Poly for 6 months, she would not be the right person to ask these questions.

Avrah and I were quite disappointed in not being able to get the quotes we wanted from her. But to our surprise, she offered to check in to President Armstrong’s room and see if he was available for 5 minutes to take our questions.

armstrong

One door closed, but another had opened. Things worked out better than we thought because we were able to ask President Armstrong his thoughts on Cal Poly’s new pub and how it came about.

“It was just an evolution. It’s something we’ve been thinking about and increasing in intensity since I’ve arrived. We’re excited and we think it’s a good time.” -Jeff Armstrong

President Armstrong told us more about how the pub came to be and what he hopes Mustang Station will bring to the campus environment. It was my first time meeting Armstrong in person so for me, it’s something I’ll never forget.

The Final Product:
Cal Poly and the Mustang Station Way

With a lot of funny hashtags thrown out there (#CPGetsWet, #TipsyMustang, #Moist), our group had finally produced a great story. It was a great experience uncovering Mustang Station, what it had to offer, and what the future holds for it.

“Having to be on a deadline only two weeks long really makes you lean on group members and better time management skills” -Katelyn Piziali

My favorite part of this experience was seeing how 5 people can work on a story together. Our different thoughts and ideas on this topic brought the story to life and it made me really appreciate having others in my group to lean on.
-Arinee Rahman