CAB promotional materials for the Cedar Point trip
Photo Courtesy of @sbucab on Instagram
BY: DAVID SCIBILIA, NEWS EDITOR
The Campus Activities Board at St. Bonaventure University is increasing the number of events it hosts, hoping to get more Bonaventure students in attendance.
The Campus Activities Board (CAB) plans events for students, such as bingo, karaoke, trips, paint nights and more. Jenna Keppel, the assistant director for student activities, programming and engagement, said she plans to increase the number of events CAB hosts to two a week.
“We pretty much hold an event every single Friday and Saturday of the semester,” said Keppel. “Once in a while, if there is a basketball game or another big event happening on campus, we do not host an event on one of those days because we do not want to take away from people attending that event or vice versa.”
The CAB budget was increased by an unspecified amount from last year.
“More money means we can do more trips,” said Keppel. “We can also get more prizes, and I think it also helps to bring a wider variety of events to campus as well.”
Jalen Morales, a sophomore fine arts major at Bonaventure, has attended five trips through CAB, most recently the trip to Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio in September.
“We went to Cedar Point, and it was really fun,” said Morales. “[We] got on most of the rides, and it was Halloween themed so there were a lot of festivities happening.”
Because CAB uses a charter bus to transport students, trips are capped at 56 participants. Students are required to pay to attend these trips.
This year, the trip to New York City cost students $35 to attend, the Bills game cost $75 and the Cedar Point trip cost $45, according to CAB promotional materials. These costs covered transportation, and they covered the ticket for the Bills game, and the cost of entering Cedar Point.
Morales said the cost is well worth the trip.
“[It’s] 100% [worth the cost],” said Morales. “If you were to do this trip with friends or family, gas would probably be double the cost you pay, plus you get the experience.”
“Charter buses are very expensive,” said Keppel. “It gives us money back that we can then put back out for students. It’s a very minimal cost compared to what [CAB is] paying. It’s also a way to incentivize students to actually show up instead of just signing up.”
Keppel said charter buses could cost between $2,000 and $10,000 depending on where the bus is going and which company it is coming from.
Keppel said the push to host more events was partially born out of the lack of events during COVID.
“A lot of the students here were here during COVID, so they don’t know what CAB was like before COVID,” said Keppel. “I definitely think that we’ve had an increase in students attending the events and student participation in different [events].”
CAB normally hosts events during weekends, but there are also some events — such as trivia — that have been done on weekdays.
“We try to provide alternatives for weekends,” said Keppel. “We want kids to be able to attend events they care about and get out of their residence halls.”
Keppel said she’s focused on broadening the scope of events CAB will host.
“I think we are providing a more well-rounded calendar of events [so] we have a little bit for everyone,” said Keppel. “So even if you’re not really into paint night, you could be into [our] Super Bowl event. Or you don’t really want to sing karaoke, but you do really like going to trivia. I think we do provide a little bit of something for everyone.”
Scibild22@bonaventure.edu
