Campus Stores to Celebrate Fourth Annual National Student Day

OBERLIN, Ohio, Oct. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Nearly 2,000 college and high school campus stores across North America will be celebrating the fourth annual National Student Day on Thursday, October 9. Sponsored by the National Association of College Stores (NACS), National Student Day is all about recognizing, celebrating and promoting students' social responsibility.

American and Canadian stores – as well as a campus store at Bermuda College in Paget Parish, Bermuda – will hold special events ranging from flash sales and free food to contests, games and live music. Some stores will also involve local charitable organizations or businesses in volunteer fairs or food or supply drives. Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville (SIUE), for example, recently opened a Campus Kitchen which recovers food from cafeterias, grocery stores, and restaurants, engaging students as volunteers who then plan, prepare and deliver meals to families in need in their community. In addition, in honor of the school's athletic mascot, the university is building a giant cougar paw out of cupcakes for SIUE students to enjoy.

The University of Cincinnati's National Student Day celebration will be full of fun and games, a campus scavenger hunt utilizing students' smartphone GPS, community service projects to benefit veterans and others in need, including donating canned goods to the Freestore Foodbank in Cincinnati and making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a local soup kitchen. And students can register for chances to win several prizes, including a dining pass, the all-important campus parking pass, $100 UC Bookstore Gift Card, or Emergency Road Kits.

Other stores, such as Valencia College in Orlando, Fla., are working with national charity Move For Hunger on a campuswide food drive to benefit local families. Move For Hunger works with relocation companies across North America to pick up unwanted, unopened food from those who are relocating and deliver it to local food banks. At the conclusion of the food drives, five local moving companies will pick up the donations and deliver them to local food banks.

This year, NACS is sponsoring an all-new photo-sharing contest for National Student Day. From now until Oct. 23, students can post photos of themselves doing volunteer work or a random act of kindness to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #NSDvolunteer to be entered to win a $1,000 prize and a $1,000 donation to the 501 (c)(3) charity of their choice.

National Student Day is supported by Sidewalk, a leading provider of technologically-enhanced rental solutions to the college store market. For more information on National Student Day and the contest, visit www.nationalstudentday.com or find it on Facebook and Twitter.

About the National Association of College Stores
Headquartered in Oberlin, Ohio, the National Association of College Stores (NACS) is the professional trade association representing the $10 billion collegiate retailing industry. NACS represents nearly 3,000 collegiate retailers and approximately 1,000 associate members who supply books and other products to college stores. NACS member stores serve America's college students while supporting the academic missions of higher education institutions everywhere. Additional information on NACS can be found online at www.nacs.org.

About National Student Day
National Student Day is a day that campus stores across North America have created to recognize and encourage volunteerism and social responsibility among the students they serve. National Student Day is celebrated through a variety of in-store celebrations, ranging from free food and merchandise, sales, contests, and live music. In addition, the National Association of College Stores sponsors a nationwide contest in support of the day that allows college students to win valuable prizes simply by giving back to their campus or local communities. More information about National Student Day can be found at www.nationalstudentday.com.

SOURCE National Association of College Stores