Two lucky Biola students made it out the door with hundreds of dollars of free merchandise at the Biola bookstore’s annual “Jam It, Cram It” competition.

The Biola Bookstore held the “Jam It, Cram It” shopping spree competition Wednesday, giving two randomly selected students 60 seconds to “jam” and “cram” whatever bookstore items they could into their backpacks.

The two winners, junior Brandon Pettit and freshman Sadie Rojas, were each chosen to pick out a Jansport backpack and were given one minute to cram as much bookstore merchandise into their backpacks, with the catch that they had to be able to fully close the bags at the end of the 60 seconds. The names of the winners were randomly drawn from a box filled with names of everyone who filled out a “Jam It, Cram It” entry slip in the weeks leading up to the contest.

“It’s pretty surprising to see how much stuff they can fit into a bag,” said sophomore and bookstore employee Charlotte Foland. “The bookstore could just give out coupons, but this is a fun idea.”

Let the game begin!

Wednesday at 12:15 p.m., Assistant Manager Lilia Martinez welcomed everyone to the contest and explained the rules. She then went on to draw the first name: Pettit.
“I was hopeful,” Pettit said. “I just got enough money to pay for my school books, so this was really cool.”

As soon as the timer started, Pettit went straight for the Biola sweaters and stuffed a pink one into his bag. Then, he raced to the book section and spent the rest of his minute cramming “New Arrivals” and “Faculty Picks” into his Jansport backpack.

After Pettit’s mad dash, the value of the grabbed merchandise added up to $363. Pettit said the sweater was for his mother and the books were for him.

Second competitor’s strategy: head for the moleskins

After counting the value of Pettit’s merchandise, Martinez then drew the second and final name for the contest: Rojas.

The timer began, and the tiny crowd that was packed into the store cheered Rojas on. Rojas frantically ran to the back of the store and grabbed two of each style of Biola mugs, drinking glasses and water bottles. Then she dashed to the front of the store and spent the remainder of her minute stuffing her Jansport backpack with moleskins of all sizes.

“We had a plan,” said Rojas, whose friend, freshman Robin Newby stood next to her. “We wanted to get the cups, then all the moleskins.”

Both Rojas and Newby excitedly discussed with each other how their plan had worked. “We really wanted the moleskins because they’re really expensive and a good quality,” Rojas said. “I just keep thinking I’m going to get them all.”

Although the books and moleskins seemed to be the hot commodity at this year’s “Jam it, Cram It” contest, Martinez said the grabbed items change every year.

“Some people go for the gift items, clothing, or school supplies; everyone is different,” Martinez said.

This year’s competition not a record-breaker

This year’s competition was the third one the Bookstore has held since Jansport came to the Biola bookstore with the idea, Martinez said.

“They had done it at another school,” Martinez said. “But we’re the ones who really ran with it.”

Besides providing the backpacks, Jansport also aided in sponsoring and subsidizing the annual event. By the end of the competition it is not uncommon for the bookstore to lose hundreds of dollars in merchandise.

“We had one guy cram $500 worth of merchandise in his backpack,” Martinez said. “But the average is about $300.”

The average turnout for the annual contest is around 100 students. However, this year there were less than a hundred students present. Martinez called this year’s contest a success despite the weather conditions.

“It was a good turnout, even with the rain,” Martinez said.