Marketing junior and Campus Manager for Student-Made Michigan State Yuktha Pulavarthi said Bidding Blitz was an opportunity for student creators to share their products with other MSU community members.

"Tonight, we have the Bidding Blitz, which is a chance to connect with UAB’s larger crowd at MSU, and to showcase the student businesses that we have, and then also kind of give away some free products," Pulavarthi said.

Computer science sophomore Alexa Wiker was a participant at the event. Wiker said she personally chose to attend because of her desire to become more involved on campus.

"I’ve been trying to go to more events on campus, and I love all the student-made products that they have," Wiker said.

Journalism junior and Events Coordinator for UAB Meg Vandermark said that her favorite part of the event was the fun environment it created.

"I think mostly what I enjoy is just the fact that it's like a chill event," Vandermark said. "It's not at all something that I really need to stress about, and I don't really feel like I ever need to stress about any events for UAB. It's more so for fun."

Bidding Blitz, according to Pulavarthi, was a unique event compared to other campus functions and an opportunity for Student-Made to branch out.

"I think this is definitely one of the only bidding, auctioning events that we do on campus, so it's really fun," Pulavarthi said.  "We're still hoping to partner with other orgs to spread the name of Student-Made, but I think this one definitely is unique, (and) works for both organizations."

For Vandermark, Bidding Blitz was especially noteworthy because of the interactive aspect between the organization and the attendees.

"I think usually our collaborations with student groups aren't this involved," Vandermark said. "Usually they're like, tabling and things like that, and the fact that we actually get the creators to talk to the people is really important… It's more of a big ticket event for the creators."

By hosting Bidding Blitz, Pulavarthi hopes attendees got to learn more about local businesses within the MSU community. Vandermark hopes to continue the collaboration between UAB and Student-Made in the future. 

"This is my second year as an Events Coordinator, and I'm hoping that next year I can try out a different position within UAB," Vandermark said. "I just wanted to make sure that this was lasting enough so that when I'm not an Events Coordinator, if that happens, we have enough of a relationship with Student-Made that we can basically continue this event."

For more information on Student-Made at Michigan State, visit their website here.