River Campus opens for Riverboat

“It’s the first time we’ve been given approval to use the property for a student event,” Jeromy Koffler, director of Student Activities, said. Until recently, the land was not usable for student activities. “The land had some old buildings and some rubble and things that were just not safe for people,” said Koffler. “There were some environmental concerns that needed to be taken care of.”

The River Campus today looks very different than past years.

“They’ve been making improvements over the past few years to the space and clearly those improvements have really paid off,” Koffler said. The idea for using the space for a student events began with a challenge to create a new campus tradition, an effort spearheaded by Fr. Gerry Olinger, vice president for Student Affairs. The Office of Residence Life was also eager to found a new student tradition. Campus traditions abound at UP, but there was something different about this particular event.

“We really wanted to go a little bigger this year, which is why we decided to do an event down on River Campus,” Haggerty and Tyson Halls’ director Tyler Hale said. “Doing something in a place where people are naturally curious about, provides some drawing power.” In addition to providing novelty, the location of the River Campus had the benefit of being situated farther away from residential homes, which Hale said helped ease possible tensions with UP’s neighbors.

Once the location was approved, other challenges arose. The creators first had to find a source of funding.

“Fr. Gerry was able to secure a donation for about $5,000 and that helped to fund the event,” Koffler said. “The rest of the money is coming out of the Pilots After Dark budget.”

Student Activities also worked with key players involved in shaping the event. Unlike most UP-hosted activitis, many campus organizations helped create Riverboat, including Residence Life, Student Activities, CPB and Pilots after Dark.

Working with a group that size had its own challenges, Hale said.

“The size of that group, and the different visions, and finding a unified vision that we really felt like would appeal to our residents,” Hale said.

But the biggest challenges the organizers faced were logistical.

“There’s very little power down there. We’re having to add generators to be able to install some lighting and to make sure that the band has sound” said Koffler. But everything went smoothly at Riverboat, and students enjoyed spending time at River Campus.

“I think it’s a pretty good location. It’s a great view and it’s a nice space to have fun times with friends,” freshman Beth Biggs said.

The location was not the only aspect the students liked. They also enjoyed the events available at the venue.

“I thought they had it set up really well,” senior  Andrea Hopkins said. “I liked the boat idea, that was pretty cool.”

Staff members received positive feedback, but of a different nature.

“Last year, there wasn’t something on this night that was this late at night,” Hale said, “and we did have problems with students going to off-campus parties. We saw far fewer dangerous incidents related to alcohol, which was great.”

Staffers and students alike believe the event was a success.

“I believe that we’ve started a new tradition, and that there’s enough momentum that we’ll figure out how to do this again next year,” said Koffler. It may have been the first time an event has taken place on the River Campus, but many students hope it will not be the last.

“They should do it every weekend,” freshman Alek Fredericksen said.

Christine Menges is a reporter at The Beacon. You can reach her at menges15@up.edu or on Twitter @christineybird.