The Commuting Student Association (CSA) hosted their annual Commuter Week from Monday, March 31 to Friday, April 1. This year, the CSA featured events centered around the theme of “Party in the CSA.” Each event that took place throughout the week featured specific activities that represent the culture of different cities across the country.

“I came up with the name because we wanted to go with a road trip theme for the week. When brainstorming ideas of what to theme the week, I thought around the USA would be fun, and easy to work with. With this theme, we can come up with an idea for a program, and then add a city to it, instead of being constrained to a very specific theme,” said Alessandra Carino, FCRH ’23, executive program coordinator of the CSA.

Commuter Week is planned by the CSA’s individual class boards that all coordinate events to fall under the centralized theme of the week. CSA’s senior board opened up the week by planning a day of events related to the city of Miami. The Miami event had a mechanical surfboard for students to use as well as pastelitos for students to enjoy. On Tuesday, CSA’s sophomore board hosted an event inspired by Aspen, Colorado, for students that included a mechanical snowboard, smores and hot chocolate. CSA’s freshman board planned a day of events on Wednesday entitled “Rams Gone Wild.” Rams Gone Wild’s activities were meant to mimic those found at a Texas state fair. They provided foods like wings and burgers and offered students the opportunity to play carnival games and ride a mechanical bull. CSA’s executive board planned an event on Thursday that was Los Angeles-themed. Students had the opportunity to participate in karaoke and enjoy foods like sandwiches and chocolates. The week wrapped up with CSA’s junior board’s Las Vegas-themed event. At this event, students enjoyed food like wings and pizza while they played poker, roulette and other classic casino games. Commuter Week serves as an important week for both commuter and residential students. It provides opportunities for students to interact with each other while participating in fun activities.

Additionally, the week aims to help commuter students feel more connected to Fordham. “Our goal in putting on Commuter Week annually is to provide commuting students with a week long set of programming during commuter friendly times,” said Tom Ujkaj, FCRH ’22, executive president of the CSA. “We hope that this week offers commuting students the opportunity to mingle and get to know their fellow commuters or even residents better. Our events are open to all students and we take pride in making the Fordham community feel just a little bit more like home to commuters.”

Carino said that a big goal of Commuter Week is to make sure that commuting students feel welcomed into the Fordham community. According to Carino, a key way to do that is by having Commuter Week cater specifically to commuter students.

“Commuter Week is important to bring commuters together for an extended period of time. Although there are many exciting opportunities for programming, commuters do sometimes struggle to feel welcome on campus, so having a whole week dedicated to us feels special. These programs also give commuters a place to go, and something to do if they are bored,” said Carino.

According to Ujkaj, while the CSA was impressed by all of the Commuter Week’s events, they were particularly impressed by the success of “Rams Gone Wild.”

“While each of the five events were successful in their own ways, this year we were amazed by the performance from our freshman board who was able to attract a record number of over 250 students at their event. The event, which took place in front of the new campus center, was the first time CSA had used this new location and we are really excited to throw more events there in the future,” said Ujkaj.
Planning for a week-long schedule of events is a feat that takes a long time. Ujkaj and Carino said that the CSA started planning Commuter Week immediately after winter break in January. While Commuter Week serves as a good time for commuter students to attend events at times that are more convenient for them, it also provides time for all students to interact.

“I think that it’s so important for students to attend events held on campus and for commuting students it is particularly important for them to attend CSA and CSS events. Ultimately our two teams work to provide commuting students with similar programming experienced by resident students,” said Ujkaj.

Commuter Week is an annual event and has featured themes like “Fordham Fairytale” and “Fordham-Opoly.” This year’s Commuter Week was extremely successful and Ujkaj notes his pride in the CSA’s efforts to put on the week of events.

“I am so extremely proud of all the hard work put in by the CSA General Assembly. We have been able to provide nearly 600 students with food, drinks and fun activities throughout the past week,” said Ujkaj.

Carino and Ujkaj also note that they hope students enjoyed Commuter Week, and attended as many events as they could. Carino also said that she hopes that members of the CSA took things away from planning the events and activities. “I hope that the students on CSA learned that it’s good to push their own boundaries, and an earnest challenge is a good challenge. I hope that the students who attended realized that it’s possible to take a few minutes out of their crazy days to grab a bite to eat or do something fun,” said Carino. Students interested in keeping up with the CSA can follow their Instagram @fordhamcsa.