Tubing for a cause
The Office of Communications sponsor an event to establish stronger relationship with a nearby city
By Tony Lee, Editor in Chief, @sHecKii
ST. BONAVENTURE (Feb. 18) — Chelsey Fera said there is more to do at St. Bonaventure University than go to bars and clubs on weekends.
“People here think that the only thing they can do here is to drink, and that there is nothing here,” the junior journalism and mass communication major said. “But there is so much in Ellicottville. And it’s not that far away.”
She said the Bona-Tubing event on Saturday from 1 to 6 p.m. at a city around 25-miles northeast from campus is the Office of Communications attempt to do just that.
As the event planner for Bona-Tubing, she said it’s important to show students and Ellicottville residents that they can mutually benefit from each other.
Jordan Orbank, an Office of Communications intern, echoed Fera’s view.
“We have stuff to do here,” the junior journalism and mass communication major said. “It’s not just some small school in the middle of nowhere that has nothing.”
Fera said she worked closely with other interns and Dominick Lisi, a graduate assistant, to organize this event.
“The marketing team for St. Bonaventure has been trying to work on a way to market Bonaventure in Ellicottville,” Fera said. “They’ve been working on it for seven years and have handed off to the interns for fresh ideas.”
For Saturday’s event, a $15 dollar ticket includes five hours of tubing and free transportation back and forth from Ellicottville’s Holiday Valley.
All proceeds go to Embrace it Africa — an university group formed by students three years ago to help the African community of Bethlehem in southern Uganda.
While tubing, students can win Bona-themed prizes likes T-shirts, basketball tickets, coffee mugs and Café La Verna and Clubhouse Restaurant gift certificates via a prize raffle.
Fera said she encourages students to go tubing because it’s a cheap way to experience what western New York has to offer.
“People think that it’s so far away, but it’s only 20, 30 minutes away,” she said. “There are so many activities, shops and restaurants you can go to and not be bored at Bonaventure.”
Tickets can be purchased outside the University Bookstore. The bus for Holliday Valley leaves at 12:30 behind The Reilly Center.
tony.lee@theintrepid.org
If you have pictures from Bona-Tubing and want to be published on The Intrepid, please send photos with the names of people in the photo to editors@theintrepid.org.