Southeast Missouri State University held Project Lucille Wednesday afternoon at parker field.

This event started two years ago to help spread awareness for the agriculture department throughout the campus and the community.

Jessi Stone pre-veterinary medicine major said the owner of the camels approached her and thought it would be a good fundraising event.

“He brought the petting zoo and camels, and our livestock show team brought out some of the semo cattle and cotton candy making the event carnival themed,’ stone said.

The event was named after the owner’s camel, Lucille, who was one of two featured at the event along with cows.

Rides were available for $5. All of the proceeds are split between the agriculture student organizations to help with the different events throughout the year, such as their bonfire and bingo night.

Stone said planning for the event was a lot different this year than previous year because it was more organized since they knew what to expect. Although it had been planned to happen Wednesday Sept 14, Project Lucille was pushed back because the animals were being shown at the SEMO District Fair.

“I found out about the event just from walking by Parker Field after my class,” Breiona Catching, a biology major, said. “The first thing that caught my attention and made me interested to walk over and check it out was the camels,” Catching said.

Stone said the plan is to keep the event on the north side of campus in the future because that is where a lot of classes are held. Plans also include increasing promotion of the event at the UC and online with the new campus program Orgsync, which allow student organizations to promote events to members.

To make the event even bigger next year, the Agriculture Club plans to get help with funding from the Student Government Association.

Overall, the event’s purpose is to inform students about agriculture.

“We want to raise awareness for agriculture as a whole,” Stone said. “We don’t just do corn and cows.”