By Natasha Muhametzyanova, Contributing Writer
Spring break has been over, but West Liberty University students have another adventure coming. This semester, the Student Government Association is sponsoring a red eye bus trip to New York City. Students will depart from WLU’s campus on April 21 and return on April 23.
“The planning process was a little tricky,” said SGA secretary Chelsea Williams. Williams is a junior majoring in criminal justice. She has been serving in SGA for three years. She was in charge of the trip and developed the idea into reality.
“I was planning something I had never done before,” Williams said. “I started the process by thinking out an entire to do list of the process from start to finish. This list basically consisted of figuring out ticket prices, sale dates, bus companies and safety procedures.”
Three buses were rented for the trip. All tickets are sold out; 160 people, both WLU students and student guests, are going on the trip.
“When we first started discussing the trip in SGA, we knew we would get a good response from the students because the price is cheap and the destination is popular. However, we only purchased two buses at first since we did not want to risk not selling all of the seats,” Williams said.
It turned out SGA had nothing to worry about as student interest was much larger than senators expected. Williams said, “When my team and I went to set up around 6:30 a.m., there was already a line of people in the union the first day of sales. I thought it would take us the entire week to sell those two buses, and we ended up selling three buses in two days.”
Tickets for the first two buses were sold out in two hours with many people still waiting in line.
“I missed the opportunity to buy a ticket by about 30 seconds. Someone in front of me bought the last ticket,” said freshman Justin Bowers, who came to buy a ticket at 8:55 a.m. “Luckily, I was able to buy a ticket whenever the student government decided to rent the third bus,” he added.
The trip excites students for many reasons. For some, it is the first opportunity to visit one of the most famous cities in the country. Others have more specific plans. Natalino Soares, for instance, is going to New York City to try new foods.
“I had two restaurants on my bucket list for three years now. I didn’t get a chance to visit them last December when I went to New York. I am super thrilled and looking forward to trying them out this time,” Soares said. He received two tickets for placing second in the West Lib Idol singing competition earlier this semester.
“SGA wanted to give students the opportunity to be able to go somewhere that was both exciting and affordable. I am excited to see how much the students enjoy New York because we have every intention of making this trip a tradition for West Liberty University in the future,” Williams commented.
Photo credit: SGA
