by Alex Gilbert
On Monday, September 11, Western New England University students got the chance to go to Boston to see the Red Sox play the Yankees at Fenway Park, but the weather caused a disappointing end to the trip.
The trip was coordinated by the Campus Activities Board (CAB), the University’s club organization responsible for hosting numerous events and trips on campus. The outing to Fenway Park was thoroughly planned by Courtney Farrell, the Travel Chair on CAB’s E-Board. Farrell is a junior psychology major with minors in criminal justice and social work who works on planning school events outside of class time.
Farrell, alongside four faculty members and 34 students, traveled to Boston on Monday night, expecting to see the Red Sox play the Yankees. The students left campus around 5:00 pm, and everyone took the same coach bus to Boston together. Farrell explained that “the trip lasted about an hour to an hour and a half” once they made it to Boston and spent some time at Fenway Park before the game rained out.
When the students arrived at the stadium, Boston was experiencing a heavy rainstorm, but the students and fans were optimistic that the game would play out. The game was planned to start at 7:10 pm, but the game was soon put on hold due to the inclement weather. CAB decided to wait it out until Fenway made an official decision an hour later to postpone the game until the following day. The students left the stadium and returned to campus around 10:30 that same night.
Iris Daniels, a junior at Western New England University, attended CAB’s Red Sox trip and had a good time regardless of the disappointing cancellation. Daniels described that “it was a lot of fun” and “it was a great idea, but unfortunately due to weather conditions outside of everyone’s control, we had to go back and the game got postponed.” She explained that she was still able to have fun hanging out with friends on the bus, walking around the stadium, and getting food at Fenway Park.
Although the trip ended on a disappointing note, Daniels still wanted to thank CAB for putting the trip together. She noted that “we did get refunded, so that’s all good,” and she hopes that they get the chance to go back. Daniels has attended CAB’s trips to the Red Sox games in the past and has always had a good time.
Farrell described that “the students were fairly disappointed because they were all excited for a good game, especially since it was the Red Sox against the Yankees”. She explained that a lot of work goes into planning these trips, from reaching out to vendors, picking dates, booking tickets, and advertising the tickets to the students, so it was very upsetting that the trip did not go as planned. Farrell was happy that the students “were able to have fun regardless of the rain” and that “a lot of them got some good food and had some fun bus trip memories”. All of the students were refunded their 25 dollars for transportation to Boston and tickets to the baseball game after the trip was cut short.
Tickets for off-campus trips are sold on wneu.universitytickets.com and are generally advertised with posters around campus and University Posts on Kodiak. Farrell explains that CAB field trips are super important to the campus community, giving “students an opportunity to explore outside of the Springfield area for a very low cost.” These outings give students the chance to socialize, explore, and make happy college memories outside of campus. Students are able to leave campus, spend time with friends, or make new ones while doing something fun for a group-rate price. Farrell has been the Travel Chair since the second half of her freshman year and has planned and attended numerous trips such as Hamilton, snow tubing at Ski Butternut, and the Bruins game.
Farrell informed The Westerner that CAB has some more trips planned for the semester, including upcoming trips to Canobie Lake Park and to see Blue Man Group. Screemfest is the Halloween event at New Hampshire’s amusement park Canobie Lake Park, where guests are able to go on rides and explore haunted walk-through attractions. The Blue Man Group is a band of musical and comedic performers who will be playing at the Charles Playhouse Boston. Be sure to keep a lookout for further announcements about these fun CAB trips!
