People You Should Know: Dan Pulse

Sports management major Dan Pulse is not your typical freshman. Approximately a month ago, Pulse began developing a new student-run holiday called Broadi Gras. He advertised his idea through a Facebook event page that has attracted the attention of 2,400 students who plan on attending. Broadi Gras, scheduled for Feb. 18, 2012 – a week before Mardi Gras – is a possible new Temple celebration that Pulse said he hopes will extend to students outside the area, similar to Penn State’s State Patty’s Day celebration.

Pulse said his main idea of Broadi Gras is based off of Temple’s annual Spring Fling, where students show school pride while enjoying a day spent on Main Campus with various booths and vendors providing activities and entertainment. It will be held on a Saturday, with hopes of bringing students from other schools onto Temple’s “beautiful campus,” Pulse said. The Temple News talked with Pulse about why he wants to give students a reason to celebrate and how he plans to do so.

The Temple News: What is your vision for Broadi Gras?

Dan Pulse: My vision is to see everyone that day in purple, wearing beads and masks and maybe even costumes – people going all out if they please. I want to walk down Liacouras Walk and see purple, green and gold the whole way. I want to walk down Broad Street, go to the Owl’s Nest or Wendy’s and see Mardi Gras colors everywhere. I just want people to show school spirit and have a fun time that day by dressing up for the holiday.

TTN: How do you feel about the students’ responses to your idea?

DP: So far, I find students loving the idea. I think everyone just wants Temple to be recognized and known – I know I do. A lot of kids have told me that they have been wondering why Temple doesn’t have something like this already, with it being such a large school. We do have Spring Fling, but that is on a Tuesday, and students, myself included, can’t really take part in the all-day activities because of classes. Kids seem excited to have something here on the weekend where all their friends can visit to see how great Temple really is.

TTN: You mentioned that with this celebration, you hope to bring revenue to Temple’s surrounding businesses. How do you think Broadi Gras will do this?

DP: Broadi Gras would bring revenue to everything in the city. It starts with public transportation. Kids are going to need to get here, and they know living in a city that it’s not the best thing to do to drive your car here ‘cause of the limited parking, so people would use SEPTA to get here. The revenue of all the food places would be largely increased because of all the visitors we [would] have. All these kids are going to need to eat food that day, and all the food places would benefit from that. Lastly, the bookstore could receive revenue because kids love souvenirs. I’m sure some kids would go to the bookstore to pick up a Temple T-shirt or something small to remember their weekend.

It really is a huge domino effect starting with public transportation to benefiting the food businesses around here, including the restaurants and the street vendors, to even benefiting the university and bringing money to them along with a reputation that Temple is a nice school, which it should be known for [instead of] for being in the “ghetto.”

TTN: How are you advertising Broadi Gras, and who are you reaching out to the most?

DP: [Right now,] my only form of advertising is word of mouth and Facebook. The event is a little too far away for me to start handing out fliers or have signs around the school or anything (if the school permits that). Next school year, probably when we come back from winter break, I will have advertising going through the roof. Not sure exactly how I’ll advertise it right now, but I’ve got time to think about that.

TTN: What are some ideas you have for Broadi Gras to develop in the future?

DP: It’s hard to say if Broadi Gras will actually develop. I love to believe it will, and I really do think it has the capability of developing. I would love to see money raised throughout the school year from T-shirt sales [and through] everything [else]. [I’d like to see] all the money profiting an organization or charity [that’s] right in the city of Philadelphia, so Temple could give back to the city that we live in.

Lauren Hertzler can be reached at lauren.hertzler@temple.edu.