Name: Al LoMartire
Year: Junior
Major: Math and Secondary Education
Activities Involved In At WPUNJ: Commuter Club, Commuter Services, SGA, Pioneer Players, and CHOSEN.
HC: What exactly is the commuter club?
AL: The Commuter Club is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a club run by commuters, for commuter issues, but not excluded to just commuters. Residents can join us as well, as the Commuter Club will host events on and off campus.
HC: Where did you get the idea to start commuter club?
AL: One day during winter break, it just happened to hit me that commuter representation was at a low point, especially for WPUNJ, which is by design a commuter school. I asked a few commuter students and my first choice for advisor, Brian Fanning, if they’d be up for the cause, and they accepted with the intent of starting a great club on campus.
HC: How has it influenced your experience at WPUNJ?
AL: Commuter Club has definitely sparked interest from students all around, so they are noticing that I’ve been holding different events on the main campus and Valley Road, and most students and faculty at WPU know I’m the student to go if they want a commuter issue resolved or discussed, which for a school with 9,000 commuters is a pretty big deal in my book.
HC: What difficulties did you face starting a new club?
AL: The only difficulty we had starting a new club was getting consistently active members to come to meetings. Commuters are typically too busy to participate as actively as they’d want to.
HC: How can someone join this club?
AL: A student (resident or commuter) just needs to attend meetings and join us on Commuter Club’s pioneerlife page.
HC: Are there any events planned for next year?
AL: We hope to have plenty of events for next year; we’ll meet up in the summer and also work with Commuter Services to help the commuter body feel more comfortable on campus.