Those on the Activities Coordination Board are just trying to make students happy.
“We’re always trying to come up with new ideas to get different students involved,” Kara Lalonde, vice president for the ACB, said.
The ACB Trip series is compilation of all-day expeditions that take students to attractive destinations. A part of the Student Association, the ACB offers up to six trips to different locations every semester. Past destinations include The Great Escape for “Fright Fest,” New York City, which included admission to the Broadway musical, “In the Heights,” as well as spring ski trips to Jay Peak.
“Each destination is different,” said Kara Lalonde, Vice President for the Activities Coordination Board. “Sometimes they’ll see a play, sometimes it’s just an ‘on your own’ day.”
While some students may initially think the trip tickets are expensive and unaffordable, in actuality the tickets are reasonably priced — even for those on a tight, college budget.
The ACB rents the bus, purchases all the tickets and then pays a certain amount,” Lalonde said. “The students are only charged a fraction of that.”
A previous trip to Jay Peak cost students $40. That included transportation, plus a lift ticket for the day. Normally a trip to Jay Peak would cost $10 in gas and an additional $55 for a lift ticket. That’s $25 students would save if they went to Jay Peak with the ACB.
Not many students are aware that if you are enrolled in Plattsburgh State, you are automatically a member of the SA. Therefore, you are eligible to purchase tickets at these already discounted prices.
“That is what we’re trying to get people to realize,” Lalonde said. “If you are a student here, no matter your age or how many credits you’ve accumulated, you are a member of the Student Association.”
An upcoming trip to Boston will only cost students $20 for transportation. Any student that takes part in the trip will have free reign over Boston between the time the bus arrives to the time the bus is leaving.
“We’re trying to search out a really diverse amount of trips so that it’s not all just skiing and going to New York City to see a play,” Lalonde said. “Advertising these trips is a challenge, but we try to get a wide range of ads out there to inform students of these great opportunities, because we think that they would really enjoy them.”
It is suggested that if students are interested in buying tickets for a trip, they should do so as soon as possible. Depending on the form of transportation, with local destinations calling for school buses and long distance destinations requiring coach buses, the trips average about 55 people.
These trips are not open to the public; they are specifically meant for PSUC students who can purchase tickets at the Angell College Center Information Desk. All a student needs to do is show them their student ID and pay the admission fee. They accept cash, credit and Cardinal Cash.
“We’re always willing to hear ideas about places to go,” Lalonde said.
The best way to get ideas through to the board is to go to the ACB Trips Committee meetings at 8 p.m. on Monday nights in the SA Volunteers office in the Angell College Center.
“The fact that we can literally go anywhere in the northeast makes this such a cool program,” Lalonde said.
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