Hugely popular on campus, Case Western Reserve’s University Progam Board (UPB) gives students offers that are both a good bargain and a great time.

Remember the UPB-hosted B.o.B. concert at Veale early last semester? Well, this semester we have a Spring Comedian to look forward to whose identity is being released later today on UPB’s Twitter and Facebook pages.

However, UPB does not just put on one huge event every semester, even if those events are what come most easily to mind.

“We choose our events on a combination of things,” said UPB President Julia Pitts. “We look back on past events and evaluate how successful or unsuccessful they have been, and if we believe that they are worth repeating, our committees work to make them an even better version of the event.”

Two events that prove their successes in the student body almost every week are Thwing Tuesdays and Spot Nights. Every Tuesday at noon, UPB gives away free craft items and food from local businesses. The following day’s ‘Spot Night’ welcomes student-chosen, local bands to perform on The Spot’s small stage, often accompanied with free food and crafts.

These two events do not require tickets, but some ticketed events occur regularly as well. Restaurant Hops have proven their popularity with each outing. In the past, students have been able to go to different culturally themed food places like Saigon, which specializes in Vietnamese foods or the Spanish restaurant, Mallorca.

Restaurant Hops provide students with an opportunity to get out of CWRU’s campus dining facilities without having to pay the full price a fancy restaurant would normally demand. Leutner’s great and all, but even it can’t beat fancy Vietnamese cuisine.

“Essentially, we just try our best to evaluate what we think the campus will love and then bring it to them,” said UPB President Julia Pitts.

UPB is certainly doing a good job of pleasing the campus community; just this past Tuesday, Blue Man Group tickets sold out within an hour of being put on sale. Even waitlisted tickets filled up immediately.

“Our ticketed events are very popular. They usually sell out within minutes, if not seconds, of going on sale,” said Pitts.

Also sold out was the Brandywine “Midnight Madness” ski trip, which lucky ticket-holding students will be attending later today from 8 pm to 2 am. This college-student centered event goes on every weekend at the ski resort, but with provided transportation required of all students, it saves gas money and makes it much safer.

What really stands out about these two events is that, while being rather large-scale, both cost less than 20 dollars to students who purchased tickets through UPB.

“Our co-chairs are excellent at working with group sales agents, as well as directly with suppliers,” said Pitt. “Because UPB typically brings a group of 30-40 people to events, most venues are very willing to work with us.”

UPB’s reputation on and off campus seems to be generally positive, always giving students a fun night out and local venues a boost in business.