Summer ‘snowbirds’ flock to USU campus

Emil Dixon

Utah State University is anticipating an all-time high of participation in its Summer Citizen Program this year based on attendance at presentations to seniors in Arizona.

“Attendance at the 2005 Arizona presentations was up 100 percent over 2004 and 70 percent from 2003,” said Dan Peterson, USU Extension executive director of Conference Services.

Peterson said summer citizens currently bring about $2 million into Cache Valley every summer, but said with the greater numbers he “looks forward … to a higher economic impact for the valley.”

SCP Coordinator Jodi Dancsak said the majority of money being spent is on housing, grocery stores and restaurants/entertainment, as well as auto services and “support of the arts.”

The increased presentation attendance is a result of new marketing strategies, Dancsak said, adding that for the first year the program sent out more than 1,500 direct invitations and ran advertisements in Arizona newspapers. Marketing efforts for the program are funded by the RAPZ tax. Peterson said the RAPZ tax is a tax on “restaurants and the arts, awarded to them by the Logan City Council.”

SCP Chief Ambassador Fred Burkenkamp, retired and an Arizona resident, said he helped develop an advertising video for the program in an attempt to reach more Arizona residents by word-of-mouth. The video was then distributed to 96 ambassadors spread throughout Arizona, Texas and southern California. Burkenkamp said the new approach is more effective because “seniors don’t pay much attention to advertising unless it’s two-for-one or free.”

In an attempt to prepare for the “influx of summer citizen attendance,” Peterson said, the program has “streamlined the courses that appeal to [seniors], and coordinated with the arts.”

Starting in May, summer citizens will travel to Cache Valley and stay in on- and off-campus housing for a period of one, two, three or four months. However, most housing contracts are for a three-month period.

Burkenkamp said he and his wife, Ruth, have traveled from their home in Sun City, Arizona to spend the past eight summers in Logan and are drawn to it because “of the range of satisfactions that come from USU and Cache Valley.”

He said, “there are over 50 courses offered [through the program], and that it’s the place for any intellectual, and as a bonus you can play golf.”

He said Logan is the “premiere location west of the Mississippi.”

USU has hosted the Summer Citizen Program for more than 20 years and plans to “increase participant numbers to 1,000 while still maintaining a high quality program,” Dancsak said. Currently, between 600 and 750 summer citizens participate in the program by purchasing a summer citizen card – a membership card that gives its holder free parking, use of the Aggie shuttle, use of USU facilities, discounts and allows them to register for Summer Citizen Program courses.

Dancsak said program courses are an hour and a half a day, weeklong courses and start at $35, adding that, “some courses may repeat to accommodate summer citizens that come late in the summer.” She said, courses are non-credit, but provide summer citizens with educational opportunities ranging “from archaeology to computers.”

Dancsak said she feels “the program is unique in that it is a combination of continuing education, fine arts and a hometown atmosphere – the community is so friendly to the summer citizens … they really roll out the red carpet.”

The Summer Citizen Program is one of 122 programs sponsored by Conference Services. Other programs include Small Satellite, Road Scholars and Cheer USA. The Summer Citizen Program is a non-profit program and is currently being funded by the sale of summer citizen cards.

It is Conference Services “job to disseminate research and discovery,” said Peterson, and it currently “sponsors programs from St. George to Logan and from Nevada to Denver.”

-emildixon@cc.usu.edu