The new semester has marked an expansion in recreational accessibility for students at Elizabethtown College with the introduction of new recreational rental boxes that are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Located in the Bird Cage at the Baugher Student Center (BSC), the vending machine-like unit will now serve as a way for students to rent items to keep them entertained when class is not in session.
The unit, brought to campus by a partnership between the Office of Student Activities (OSA) and the RecWell, is currently under a one-year lease from the company RecRe, and will likely be renewed should students demonstrate enough interest in the rentals.
“If all goes well, there could potentially be opportunities to add more boxes across campus,”Senior Director of Student Involvement & Well-Being Witney Crull said.RecRe boasts on its website that their rentals are already in use at more than 65 college campuses across the United States, including large universities such as Rutgers and Texas A&M. By supplying durable, secure and “inventory agnostic” boxes, RecRe lets colleges provide equipment as they see fit.
According to RecRe and Crull, the rental boxes provide the benefits of 24/7 hour equipment rentals without the need to have physical staff members checking out equipment.
Previously, Etown’s equipment rentals were only available at the Hub in the BSC and the RecStop in the Bowers Center, but these come with limited hours due to staffing.
Among the items currently available are a ping pong set, a billiards set (not far away from their respective tables), board games and a myriad of card games ranging from traditional decks of cards to Uno and Exploding Kittens. Additionally, a personal hammock and yard games, namely yardzee (a larger form of the tabletop dice game Yahtzee) and spikeball are also available to rent for free.
“What they have right now [is good],” Jillian Ziegler said. “They have quite a lot of different options, but I think if they added more that’d be better.”
Currently OSA and RecWell plan to monitor how often and for how long each item is rented. Depending on this information, new items can be rotated to replace little used or out-of-season items.
“At the end of each semester, if there are items that are not getting utilized a lot, we can swap it out for something else,” Crull said. “We’d also be happy to take suggestions for what students would like to see in the box!”
To rent out and use the items in the boxes, students must scan the QR code located on the rental unit. They will then be directed to input their school credentials. Once signed in, students can now select an item to rent, and the door with the item will open.
Depending on the item, rentals will range from a few hours to a day before they need to be returned. The item must then be returned to the box by scanning the QR code again and taking a picture of the item back where it belongs.
Should a student go over the rental time, a notification will be sent, and if they fail to return the item, they will be issued a strike. Too many strikes will result in a ban on renting further items.
Any student wishing to take a break from academics can now find entertainment thanks to the RecRe boxes on late weeknights or on the weekends. Students currently using the items available hope the service will stay long-term.
“I think it’s good because sometimes I’m lowkey bored in my dorm or have nothing to do,” Ziegler said. “[Now] I ask my friends, ‘Hey you wanna come down here and play?’’
