The Campus Activities Board (CAB) is offering an event to show students numerous opportunities and organizations available in the city of Pittsburgh.
“City in a Room” will take place in the Lawrence Hall lobby Wed. Feb. 24 from 4-7 p.m.
“It is going to be like a fair,” said CAB’s public relations coordinator, Nicole Miller. “Students will be able to talk to [officials] and learn about things going on at each place.”
Miller said representatives from Zipcar, an alternative transportation system available to students, plans to show students how to rent a car and open a membership. The Port Authority will offer various bus and train routes and ConnectCard opportunities. Officials from the Pittsburgh Park Conservatory will be present to provide information on local parks.
Other organizations attending the event are the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, Shadyside Chamber of Commerce and Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition. The organizations will bring information on the specific neighborhoods that the organizations work inside of as well as their own specific establishments.
Louis Spanos, CAB’s “Experience Pittsburgh” coordinator, hopes that all students will come to the event and learn more about the city.
“[The event is] going to have information about their specific organizations and about the neighborhood,” Spanos said. “I also asked they bring information about living opportunities to help freshmen or sophomores who want to move off campus or juniors and seniors who need to start planning.”
While these organizations will be present at the event to provide information on their specific section of Pittsburgh, transportation systems for the city will also be there to inform students on transportation opportunities.
“Port Authority and Zipcar are going to be great transportation resources for students for not only freshmen and sophomores, but also rising juniors and graduating seniors,” Spanos said. “This way, they have somewhere they can make the transition from college student to young professional that much easier.”
Blake Doyle, a freshman theater major from the Pittsburgh area, still seemed interested in going to “City in a Room.”
“I think it would be kind of cool because in Pittsburgh, especially when you live here, you know that there are different neighborhoods but there are also different kinds of areas,” Doyle said. “You don’t normally on a regular basis leave your area, so I think it’s kind of interesting to learn how to get there and what’s going on there. Even though I’m from here, there’s so much going on, and I think it’s interesting to see all the different things that are happening.”
Spanos said he considers this one of the most “anticipated” events during his time at CAB.
“I just really want students to come and learn,” Spanos said. “As long as it affects someone’s college experience for the better, whether how small or big that impact is, that is what I want to get out of ‘City in a Room.’”
