Point Park Pioneers – old and new – went back to 1969.
Point Park’s Woodstock Welcome Week provided students with a warm welcome to kick off the 2023-24 school year. The Student Activities, Involvement, and Leadership (SAIL) Office and the Sports, Arts, and Entertainment Management (SAEM) Department hosted the welcome week’s main event, Woodstock on Wood, on Thursday, August 31. The event took place in Village Park where students gathered to enjoy inflatables, free food, and live music.
Starting at 8 p.m., the SAEM department organized live music from Point Park’s own students. Sophomore screenwriting major Deidre Cronin sang popular 60s hits until 9:30, then Pioneer Star duo Shayna Augusma, senior cinema production major, and former student Shane Pogany performed for the remainder of the evening.
“SAEM’s role was pretty much to bring the entertainment vibes at the whole event itself,” senior SAEM major Delaney Metikosh said. “SAIL was pretty much facilitating the food trucks and the vouchers for everything, and the blowups.”
The Student Center parking lot had an inflatable obstacle course for Point Park students to enjoy, as well as an inflatable basketball game and ring toss in Village Park. To accompany the activities, SAIL provided an Auntie Anne’s food truck where students could acquire a voucher for a free pretzel and lemonade.
“We didn’t want it to just be a very monotone event,” Metikosh, who is also the director of marketing, PR, and social media for Pioneer Records, said. “We needed the entertainment so we got Pioneer Records to bring in the performers for it. The whole theme for welcome week is Woodstock and music, so that’s why it’s Woodstock on Wood Street.”
In addition to Woodstock on Wood, Point Park’s Woodstock Welcome Week included several other events on campus for students to take part in. Monday’s Monte Carlo Night was an annual casino event with additional giveaways, Tuesday’s Pioneer Pub featured trivia and raffles, Wednesday’s Mindfulness Morning consisted of tie-dying shirts, and Thursday’s Woodstock on Wood wrapped up the week of 60s-themed events.
Freshman and transfer students had a full week of orientation – the Pioneer Experience – prior to the first week of classes, but Woodstock Welcome Week gave new students another event to put on their calendars. Each event had a big turnout, fun activities, and free food; so students could mingle and adjust to their new home.
“I’ve been adapting quite well,” freshman musical theater major Camani Campbell said. “I feel like without welcome week I wouldn’t have that many friends, especially outside my major, so I’m really thankful for that.”
To continue the music festival theme, the Campus Activities Board (CAB) held the Back to School of Rock event to conclude the first week of classes where they had free coffee, tea, and music. Welcome back, Pioneers!
