The Warrior Steps come alive with the sound of blockbuster films when Stan State Cinema returned to the Student Center for the spring 2022 semester. Stan State Cinema is hosted by the Student Center (SC) and in collaboration with Housing & Residential Life. The recurring event has students coming together to watch some of their favorite films.
The March 10 event showcased the film The Matrix Resurrections to a packed theater setting at the Turlock campus. At the front entrance, Student Center staff helps students check-in via a QR code and introduces them to the free small snacks available nearby. The Warrior Grill also remains open for guests.

The last Stan State Cinema featured Black Widow and was held on October 14th 2021. That event was located on the Warrior Lawn outside SC, so when the event made its return this semester, students like Charlie Jueco (junior, Computer Science) were impressed by the turnout and the move to being inside.

“It was nice seeing a lot of people get together, especially for a sci-fi movie like the Matrix,” Jueco said. “I’ve seen a lot more people go to the Stan’s theater events than any of the other Student Center events so far.”

Despite its seemingly simple premise, Stan State Cinema is a highly coordinated event made possible by its teams of organizers. Helena Arroyo is the SC Events Student Coordinator. She described how each department at the Student Center had a hand in organizing the nights. Operations was responsible for putting everything together, such as ensuring that equipment such as the sound system worked properly for the screening. Programming staff were also present at the entrance to greet and offer help to all the students.

Housing & Residential Life play large roles as well at the events. Danielle Rankin, the Residential Program Coordinator at Housing, spoke about how the collaboration with SC has enabled Stan State Cinema to progress from being hosted outside to being within the Student Center.

“The experience can always be expanded upon,” Rankin said.
According to Arroyo, Stan State Cinema was inspired by the goal to give students the option to attend a type of event that was different to the exciting weekly Warrior Wednesdays.
“We wanted to do something where they could relax, spend some time with their friends outside of school, and still given a college experience,” she explained.

Campus events with such an attractive venue and premise is also an opportunity for students to have a good first impression of campus pride.

“It felt awesome,” described Memphis Loza (sophomore, Business Administration). Loza had not attended any on-campus events prior to Stan State Cinema.

“I’ve been really secluded and all my classes are online,” explained Loza, whose reasoning has been applicable to many students repopulating the campus this semester.

He added that watching a movie with fellow warriors made him feel “really connected to the university and the people around me.”
Overall, the response to Stan State Cinema has been very positive. To those interested in future events, students have the opportunity to suggest the next movie via the ASI & SC Instagram page.