The Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard (TECH) was founded in 1999 to foster an entrepreneurial spirit among students in the areas of innovation and technology.

But tonight, that entrepreneurial spirit will be employed in a slightly unconventional manner, as student members of TECH host a video game tournament and study break.

The event will be "a party with a purpose," according to Executive Director of TECH and Director of External Affairs for DEAS Paul B. Bottino.

"The purpose is to have a fun study break from mid-terms, celebrate leading into spring break, raise awareness for what we do at TECH in all the other weeks, and to build a closer TECH student community, recognizing that students look for their extracurricular activities to be a social, as well as an educational experience," he said in an e-mail.

Tonight's event will feature ice cream sundaes and a tournament in the Sega Dreamcast fighting game, Soul Caliber, which participants will play on a big screen television.

First prize for the contest is a Casio handheld game machine, while second- and third-prize winners will take home packs of blank CDRs.

The video-game-theme study break is not a typical event for TECH, which usually sponsors events like entrepreneurship panels, a spring semester conference, an advisory network and similar student activities.

But the event's light-hearted nature also has a more serious purpose

Student executive committee member Jordanna P. Schutz '02, who proposed the idea in a student TECH Team meeting last week, said that the event was designed to advertise the resources that the group has to offer.

"Not enough people are aware of TECH yet, and so we thought we'd begin to host some fun study breaks and social events in order to raise awareness and disseminate information about the Center," she said. "Whether or not [TECH] fulfills that potential depends heavily on the degree of involvement of the Harvard community."

Arturo E. Brillembourg '04, a

member of TECH's communications committee, echoed Schutz's concerns, noting the prominent role that TECH could play as a student organization on campus.

"TECH will eventually be the hub for technology and entrepreneurship, an umbrella organization like PBH," he said. "We want people to know what we're about."

The study break will be held at 6:30 p.m. in Maxwell-Dworkin G-125.

--Staff writer Kate L. Rakoczy can be reached at rakoczy@fas.harvard.edu.