Evan Fonseca, Keith Tripler and Kyle Kuchta, all freshmen in the College of Visual and Performing Arts, were the first students to wait outside Goldstein Auditorium to see Andy Samberg speak Wednesday night. They got there six hours early.
“We knew this was going to be big,” Fonseca said. “People did this for the Villanova game who are real big sports fans, so for film and art students, this is our Villanova.”
The three students began waiting in line at 1:30 p.m. for doors that opened at 7:30 p.m. By 3:30 p.m., about 15 students were sitting along the wall outside the auditorium, and by 5:30 p.m. the line was outside. Fifteen minutes before the doors opened, the line wrapped down the steps outside Schine, along the walkway between the building and the library, and down Waverly Avenue to its intersection with University Avenue.
Becky Sellmeyer, an employee of Student Centers and Programming Services, said the line could be moved outside for safety reasons because the weather was nice. Having all the students wait inside would have violated fire codes and blocked the flow of traffic, she said.
Tripler, a freshman art photography major, said he became a diehard Samberg fan after seeing “Saturday Night Live” filmed last year. The three students brought a Syracuse-themed board game, Orangeopoly, to pass the time.
Unlike Fonseca and his friends who knew to arrive early, some students were shocked at how long the line became. Kathy Calella, a sophomore English education major waiting near the end of the line, said she thought there was probably more available space inside that wasn’t being used.
“I expected there to be a line in Schine, like for other events,” she said. “But I did not expect it to be wrapping around the building.”
Melia Robinson, a freshman majoring in both magazine journalism and information management and technology who started waiting in line at 2 p.m., said she and her friend were excited about the event all morning.
“We had class together two hours ago,” she said, “and we were playing hangman with the lyrics of Andy Samberg songs.”
Published on March 24, 2010 at 12:00 pm