Students Get Lucky at St. Patrick’s Day Casino

The St. Patrick’s Day Casino had a very successful turnout. Photo Credit / Lauren Shook The St. Patrick’s Day Casino had a very successful turnout. Photo Credit / Lauren Shook
The St. Patrick’s Day Casino had a very successful turnout. Photo Credit / Lauren Shook
The St. Patrick’s Day Casino had a very successful turnout.
Photo Credit / Lauren Shook

By Lauren Shook
A&E Editor

St. Patrick’s Casino was graced with a large turnout in the Commuter Lounge of the University Center on March 7.

The Commuter Council hosted the event, planning everything from the activities to the offered refreshments.

“St. Patrick’s Day deals with luck. The one thing people talk about with St. Patrick’s Day is how they get lucky,” said ESU sophomore and Commuter Council member Eric Firestone.

“At a casino, you need luck to win, so that’s how the two ideas were pushed together and now we have an event.”

This luck-themed social featured a wide variety of free activities for attendees.

As students entered the casino set-up, they were adorned with a stamp on the hand and were provided with a cup-full of free poker chips.

These poker chips could be used for any of activities presented, which included two black jack tables, a roulette wheel and a poker table.

The event also had two carnival games, which consisted of a three-card poker game and texas holdem.

As students collected their winnings, they could cash in their chips in exchange for tickets for the raffle.

Raffle prizes included a teddy bear, t-shirts, blankets and other ESU items purchased from the campus bookstore.

The St. Patrick’s Day Casino had a very successful turnout. Photo Credit / Lauren Shook
The St. Patrick’s Day Casino had a very successful turnout.
Photo Credit / Lauren Shook

Students largely approved of this free social event.

“It’s a lot better than all the other events,” said freshman Tanner Fritz, “a lot more interactive.”

Free refreshments were also provided for this St. Patrick’s Day themed casino.

“If you went to the casino, you would see a cocktail bar going on. We have our school appropriate version of it,” said Firestone. “We have appetizers like you’d get at a normal casino.”

Drinks included blueberry mojitos, Shirley temples, hibiscus cosmos and more. All were alcohol-free to accommodate the college’s dry campus.

Snacks available included crackers, meats and cheeses, gapes, pretzels, fruit skewers, mozzarella sticks and pizza rolls.

All food was prepared and provided by the members of the Commuter Council.

“We spent all last night building everything and making sure everything came together nicely,” said Firestone.

The members of the Commuter Council put a lot of effort into this event, and looked cohesive in matching dealer’s uniforms and classic green visors.

Fernando Alcantar elaborated on the process of creating these events each month.

“We have one main event every month, so we look at the big date that is taking place,” said Alcantar. “Looking back, we did Valentines, we did a casino for March and for April we are going to do an end-of-the-year event.”

The Commuter Council has meetings every Tuesday from 2-3 p.m.

Alcantar stated that there are many different committees that students can get involved with including the events committee (which put the casino together), a commuter league and an advocacy committee.

For more information about the Commuter Council you can visit www.esu.edu/commuter.

Any other questions can also be answered by emailing commuter@esu.edu.

Email Lauren at:
lshook2@live.esu.edu