The Campus Life section is like Wal-Mart. It offers a little bit of everything and advertises low prices. Granted, you probably couldn’t walk into the Campus Life office and buy your favorite cereal, but you can buy tickets to Cedar Point, museums, plays and sports games, all at discounted prices that include transportation to and from campus. According to Bily Simmons from Campus Life, “If somebody is looking for something to do, I’m sure we’ve got [an event they would be interested in] going on sometime soon.”
Simmons, a junior at Eastern Michigan University who is majoring in communications with a minor in marketing, works in the Campus Life office. A significant part of his job is organizing “excursions” for EMU students to go on throughout the year. Excursions are off-campus events for students to attend.
As part of organizing excursions, Simmons also helps plan out the annual museum excursion.
“The DIA we do every year,” Simmons said. “We usually match up the DIA with a different museum. Last year it was the Charles Wright museum, which is an African American history museum. This year we’re going to the Holocaust Memorial Center because we were approached by professor Marty Shichtman. [The event tickets cost] $10 for students and $25 general admission.”
Simmons has a particular liking towards this museum excursion.
“I like to go on the DIA trip and I’m glad we do that every year. That would be my favorite because it’s something everyone should get to experience.” He confessed, “It wasn’t until I was 20 years old that I finally got to go to the DIA.”
Something that Simmons is experienced with is hockey, and is a huge Red Wings fan. He said, “We always try to go to some sort of a sporting event every year. Last year we tried to do the Pistons, but we wound up canceling it because the Pistons were having such a rough season and we were having a rough time selling tickets. This year, I told my boss, Gregg Costanzo, ‘If we can do a Red Wings excursion, I promise you I’ll get us sold out’.”
And that’s exactly what happened, as 55 students are signed up to attend the Red Wings game against the Capitals on March 19.
Even after allocating the money for the Wings game and the DIA/Holocaust excursions, Simmons says there was money left over. “We actually have another excursion that we just started promoting. It’s Disney’s Beauty and the Beast the musical. We’re real excited about that. We had an opening in our schedule and budget, so we came up with another excursion and [Beauty and the Beast] was the one that we decided on. The tickets we bought are the best we’ve ever had in the Fisher Theater.”
The Beauty and the Beast excursion will take place on April 14. According to the Facebook page, the price for a ticket is $35 for an EMU students and $75 for general admission; both of which include the price for the bus ride. In comparison, the Ticketmaster prices for the same show range from $40-$105 per ticket.
For those interested in being a guest at the Beauty and the Beast excursion, Campus Life asks that students who buy tickets start checking in at 5:30 p.m. at the second floor information desk in the Student Center, and students are expected to arrive back on campus around 11 p.m. For further details, students can check the Facebook page.
Simmons strongly encouraged everyone to keep up on the Campus Life Facebook page.
“I definitely wish every student here would follow [us on Facebook] because then they would know what types of events are happening on campus. We work very, very hard to make sure there’s programing for everybody.”
