By Bessie King

There were trips to Martha’s Vineyard, the Berkshires and Newport, R.I., free weekly concerts, ice cream and arts and crafts activities that took place in the quad. Tickets to the Red Sox, Blue Man Group, Rent and Mamma Mia, among others, sold out on the first day of sale. All of those successes led to a great kickoff of Northeastern’s first “Summester” program.

The program originated in the Student Activities Office to provide students on campus with things to do during the summer. John Silveria, the associate director of leadership development, proposed the idea in the office in late winter. The idea was successful and Silveria, along with several co-op students and others, put together a list of events students might be interested in.

“We decided to go for it due to the lack of programming in the summer so we started working in April and in five weeks we had put it all together,” Silveria said. “I was mainly in charge of marketing and my co-op student, Rosenna Cornet, did a great job with all the programming.”

The list of events was diverse and affordable. From the Boston Pops to Joey and Maria’s Italian Comedy Wedding, students, faculty and staff, were able to buy one ticket per person. At $10 per ticket for some events, compared to $30 or more at regular prices, Silveria said he was not surprised they sold out so quickly.

Red Sox tickets were also sold but there were a fewer number of them, due to availability.

The deep-sea fishing, Provincetown, Martha’s Vineyard and Berkshires day trip tickets were $5 including transportation. Even the free concerts in the quad featuring jazz and blues singers were a deal, since about 350 ice cream sundaes were given out weekly.

A majority of funding for the program came from the Budget Review Committee (BRC). Alison Barlow, vice president for financial affairs for the Student Government Association, said $33,000 was given to support the events. Revenue from the ticket sales was then used to buy more tickets or pay for more buses to schedule other day trips.

Jhanea Williams, a sophomore architecture major, said although she was busy all summer, many of her friends participated in activities.

“It’s nice to have something to do while in school for the summer and just having live music every week in the quad was great to listen to while I ate lunch,” Williams said.

Silveria said he did not expect such great results, but now that the first year is over and he and his team know what to do, they will begin planning early for next summer.

“I’d recommend to do it again. After this year’s success, and now that people have seen the potential of the program; I wouldn’t be surprised if it grows,” Silveria said.

There are no plans for related programming in the fall due to the many student activities taking place. The focus of the program was for the summer and when the fall comes, there is no intent on taking over student time or programming since so much happens during that season, Silveria said.

Some students agree and like the idea that now summers at Northeastern will be entertaining.

“I think it was a good idea because there is more to do in the summer than taking classes and studying,” said Vannery Sok, a junior pharmacy major. “In the fall everything goes back to normal and there are many activities around, but for the summer months this was definitely a good program.”

The Summester program is wrapping up over the next two weeks with its last daytrips to Martha’s Vineyard, the Berkshires in Massachusetts and Mount Monadock in New Hampshire. For more information visit the activities office in 228 Curry Student Center.