William Masselli ~ Editor in Chief
On Wed., Feb. 2, 2022, the Commuter Student Association (CSA) hosted a Commuter Welcome Back Breakfast for University of Lynchburg’s commuter students.
President of CSA Lillian Smith enjoyed creating this event for her fellow students to enjoy, stating, “Personally my favorite part of the Commuter Student Welcome Back Breakfast Event was being able to provide people with a fun event during the day. Often, we as the executive board, end up planning events for the evening which can be difficult for some commuters to attend as many have jobs or other activities off of campus. Having an event in the morning/afternoon I believe allows for more commuters to be able to attend.”
Smith continued, “What I was most excited about was that our event attracted all sorts of commuter students (Undergraduate, Graduate, and Adults) to come and participate. We are blessed to have a building specifically for commuter students and we as the executive board have strived to inform our commuter community about this area. Providing the breakfast event at this location got usage out of our building and made the event personal for commuter students.”
CSA Vice President Lauren Pascadlo believed this event was great for commuters, stating, “Having this event was really important for the commuter community because most commuters were able to attend. The morning timing of the event allowed any commuter to stop by on their way to class or even between classes. This allowed them to meet more commuters and enjoy free food which is always a bonus.”
Pascadlo continued, I don’t know the exact number of commuters who attended the event. However, attendees were able to eat through almost three full trays of catered pancakes which is pretty impressive. Eating through that many trays was fantastic because that meant that people were there enjoying breakfast and the company of others. No matter the number of attendees we had, CSA would have been excited to welcome them to the commuter center. Therefore, any number was a good number of attendees.”
Director of First and Second Year Initiatives Jonathan Fries, shared his thoughts on the CSA’s welcome back breakfast, stating, “It is important to let our commuter students know how much we appreciate them as members of our community. It also provides our commuter students with the opportunity to reconnect with friends, make new ones, and visit the Commuter Student Center. We had a number of students who attended, who said it was their first time in the Commuter Student Center. Hopefully, through this event, they have identified a new space for them on campus.The students who attended the event were very happy and appreciative of the meal. They enjoyed having the opportunity to congregate with their fellow students and relax either before or after their classes. It was so well received that we hope to continue this event each semester for commuter students and look for it to grow.”
Fries talked about the organization’s upcoming events, stating, “The Office of First and Second Year Initiatives is planning to offer its monthly commuter lunches with the first one being on Wed., Feb. 16. We will also celebrate Commuter Appreciation Week in March, which will be a week long of events and activities for commuter students.”
Pascadlo talked about her organization’s upcoming events in more detail, stating, “The next CSA event will be an off-campus event (at Rise Up Climbing) which means that it will very different from the Breakfast event. However, CSA hopes to provide free snacks to anyone who comes much like how food was provided at the breakfast (just not as fancy). One of CSA’s main goals is to create a commuter community for those commuters wanting to meet other students who don’t live on campus. The breakfast event was a great place for this to happen. Hopefully, the rest of our events will continue to foster this commuter community.”
Smith concluded, “As president, this year my goal for the Commuter Student Association was to implement organization and preplanning of events to not only benefit our current executive board but also future ones. We really wanted to try and partner with at least one other on campus organization per semester and we have been successfully able to complete that goal. I believe that with these accomplishments and our plan for this semester, we as an organization are on the right track for a fun final semester as most of our board members are graduating after this spring.”
If you are interested in attending any of the CSA’s events, please contact CSA President Lillian Smith at smith_le@lynchburg.edu.
