Campus Wide Travelers: The Aggie Passport Experience

The Student Life section of Utah State Today highlights work written by the talented student journalists at Utah State University. Each week, the editor selects a story that has been published in The Utah Statesman for inclusion in Utah State Today.

By Shelby Black, Utah Statesman, Wednesday, September 5, 2018 
 

New Utah State University students have the opportunity to travel to different campus events through the Aggie Passport experience.   

The Aggie Passport is given to freshman and first semester USU students in their connection classes and orientation. The goal of the passport is to encourage these students to come to various events and discover what they are all about.  

Grady Bing, from Student Orientation and Transition Services, stressed the importance of these students becoming involved in the on-campus community.  

“The Aggie Passport program is to promote student involvement within their first year. One integral part of a college experience is to be a contributing member in the aggie community. This 
is expressed by going to events and it gives you more opportunities to be involved,” Bing said.  

The Passport comes along with perks as well. If students attend eight events, they will have $10 added to their Aggie Express account. If a student attends 10 events, they will then have $20 dollars added to their account.This cash can be spent anywhere on campus that accepts Aggie Express.  

For freshman Abbi Canan, this incentive brought her out to the carnival on the Quad.  

“I want to get eight swipes. That’s my motivation to print for free, but I also get to come to events,” Canan said.  

On the other hand Cale Orwig, a USU freshman, was excited to be able to mingle with other students. 

“I think it is awesome. Us new students have places to go and socialize. You can bring friends or come alone and meet new friends. I’m especially excited for Day on the Quad and the neon dance party,” Orwig said. 

This year’s passport experience includes more events than ever to help bring in a diversity of students. 

“We have more events on the passport this year and you don’t even need your card to swipe, you can just type in your A number,” Bing said. “The events are all super important for each individual, we have a wide variety. Different events field different people.” 

The Aggie Passport experience will be running for new students from August until the middle of October. To begin earning your way to Aggie Express cash, look for the aggie passport table at events. For the full lineup of events visit here.