Free T-shirt Event

  Students at PVCC on Wednesday, October 8, were able to receive free t-shirts beyond just comfortable attire. These shirts were adorned with custom designs chosen by each student. In the Bolick Student Center, students were lined up holding flash drives or smartphones with an image to adorn either a t-shirt, tote bag, or mouse pad. This service was provided by CEP Incorporated.

CEP is a company that provides entertainment for schools and campuses across the country. They offer services like the image-printing PVCC enjoyed and various entertainment and educational programs. They also host health and wellness events in relation to problems like drunk driving and alcohol abuse. They have won the program of the year award from Campus Activities Magazine for their Aware TXT simulator, which allows people to discover in a safe environment the dangers that texting can cause while driving.

At PVCC, students were lined up around the center past the hallway to the 600 hall, each of them awaiting their turn to have a custom piece of attire. Some students got their favorite pieces of art. Others had more abstract designs commonly found at a retail shop. Asked if they ever had to turn down designs, Alissa Adams revealed they only typically had to turn down shirts for copyright violations. She also shared the process was a great deal of fun and she had taken the chance to make many t-shirts herself.

The process was simple and efficient for printing shirts. They would take a picture provided by a student’s phone or flash drive and upload it to image editing software, then center it properly and print it  on a special type of paper. Afterwards, the paper is placed over the item to be marked and pressed down with a heating plate that transfers the image to the item. After that, the student  takes their item and the next student starts the process again. The event was sponsored by the student’s activities fund and from the turnout was well received.

The only time other than copyright violations they have to turn down printings is when images are too explicit. “One woman wanted a t-shirt of a nude woman with her genitals hovering over the viewer’s line of sight, kind of like she was about to sit on him,” Adams explained, noting they didn’t do things that were sexual explicit or prejudiced of any sort. “[This] is challenging but fun. … It lets the students have a good time,” Adams cheerfully reported.