By Melissa Werthmann, News Correspondent

Off-campus students attending Northeastern said they want to be involved in on-campus events, especially those that include free food and giveaways, but can miss out due to lack of advertising.

It’s a problem students and staff know exists and are trying to solve. Still, many students continue to get left out because event news often fails to reach people living in the Mission Hill and Fenway neighborhoods, even some residents in buildings on Huntington Avenue.

“There is absolutely a decline in awareness when you move off-campus,” Mission Hill-resident and Northeastern student Bridget Brooke said.

The Office of Off-Campus Student Services is tasked with making sure students who live on their own still remain connected to the university. Clayton Wiggins, a sophomore industrial engineering major, works within the organization as a community ambassador (CA).

“We act as a resource for off-campus students and provide them with general information,” Wiggins said.

Wiggins, who lives on Mission Hill, applied to be a CA last year.

“I knew I would be moving off campus and I wanted to stay connected and involved, and I wanted to help others do that, too,” he said. “Basically I wanted to help people in the same situation as me.”

Kyle Kennedy, a fourth-year psychology major, became a CA for the same reason. “I was moving off campus and I wanted to stay involved with some organization. I saw it on myNEU and decided to check it out,” she said.

Kennedy said she thinks students want to be involved, but rather, don’t know the events exist in the first place.

Gail Olyha, the director of the Office of Off-Campus Student Services, started the office herself four years ago. She, too, believes that off-campus students want to come to events, but are often unaware they are even happening.

“They’re not seeing fliers,” Olyha said. “In our newsletters and news briefs, the CAs try to highlight events, but the off-campus student has to make a little more effort to stay connected.”

The first annual “Taste of Off Campus” was intended to give those students a chance to involve themselves.

“Students who live on campus get all of the freebies and and all of the parties,” Olyha said. “We wanted to have a social event at the beginning of the year for those that live off campus.”

The free event, held last Saturday at the Fenway Center, was exclusively for students who live off-campus and hosted a wide variety of vendors including Boloco and J.P Lick’s, both of which gave away free merchandise. Students were also given free giveaways at the door and a raffle ticket to win gift cards to various stores in the area.

Olyha said the concept of inviting local vendors has been done by other schools as well, including Boston College and Syracuse University.

“Part of it is for the students to come and meet their community ambassadors,” Wiggins said. “The other part is for local businesses to get their name out. We also have different offices represented, like Co-op Connections and Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution (OSCCR), and the students get a ton of free stuff. Everybody’s a winner.”

Kelsey Gardner, a junior marketing and finance major, left with her bag full of giveaways and free iced coffee. Gardner lives with Brittany Waitte, a junior marketing and management major, at 311 Huntington Ave. Both said that they don’t attend as many events as they used to when they lived on campus.

“I don’t miss out on things I know about,” Gardner said. “It’s when I don’t know that there is a problem.”

Gardner suggested that organizations should post more fliers in academic buildings. Waitte agreed.

“I don’t spend as much time on campus as I used to,” she said. “I pretty much just go to class and back.”

Brooke, a senior physics major, said she liked that the event was geared specifically for off-campus students. She said that events have to be pretty substantial for her to attend.

“I’d come down for a comedian,” she said. “But not necessarily for just a meal.”

Gardner said she knew what she was getting into when moving off campus and understood the downsides of a less direct connection with Northeastern.

“I feel when someone lives off-campus, they know what comes with it,” she said. “It’s a choice.”

Brooke said she knew moving off-campus would mean fewer events.

“I don’t expect them to bring a barbecue to the Hill,” she said.

Various factors can inhibit an off-campus student from attending an on-campus event, Kennedy explained.

“Weather is definitely part of it,” she said. “If you live far and it’s snowing, you might just want to stay home.”

Benjamin Worden, a senior physics major, is one of two co-presidents of the Society of Physics Students. Worden said he relies mostly on emails, word of mouth and weekly meetings to publicize his group’s events. He feels that off-campus students want to be involved, and that they pick and choose what they want to attend in the same way as on-campus students.

“There was an equal amount of things I didn’t do when I lived on campus that I still don’t do now,” Worden said.

Brooke said events have to be enticing for her to attend. For college students, that usually means free stuff.

“Most people won’t miss free anything, especially if there’s food,” Gardner said.

Kennedy said she keeps this in mind when promoting events and traditionally advertises food and prizes.

Olyha said most advertising is electronic and student email addresses are collected at events. She also said the Office of Off-Campus Affairs has made an extensive branding effort to promote its name in public and this method seems to bring more off-campus students to on-campus events.

Waitte said that she was notified about “Taste of Off-Campus” through email and told her roommate about it. Still, like many college students, she feels that the best way to lure off-campus students to events is with complimentary gifts.