Temple University - Templar Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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SARAH MARIANO Passport to Philadelphia 4

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nia bases its reputation off being open late and delivering its sweet treats to students until 2 a.m. They offer a Happy Hour Special, 3 cookies for $3, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. Their most ordered cookies are peanut butter, chocolate chip and snicker doodle - you can never pick just one! Whether you’re in the mood for a savory meal or a sweet treat. Temple's lunch trucks have got you covered. The choices are endless, and make for a huge contribution to Temple’s campus life.

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The Philadelphia Experience, or PEX Passport, which is filled with free and discounted passes and coupons for students, has been implemented into the GenEd program at Temple to help get students off campus and into the city. Philadelphia is a city full of rich culture and history, which all Temple students should take advantage of. Shofuso Japanese House and Garden, the Philadelphia Film Society and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology are just a few of the partners who are trying to get Temple students into the vibrant city. The PEX Passport provides a way that allows students to take advantage of Philadelphia and all it has to offer before their time at Temple ends. “It was designed to get Temple students out into the city, and have Philadelphia experiences, said associate professor Matt Wray, a teacher of Cultural Sociology, the Health of Cities and History and Significance of Race in America. PEX Passports give student discounts or free entry to a large number of Philadelphia's museums, theaters and more. Wray promotes the use of the PEX Passport in his History and Significance of Race class, when he instructs students to use the free coupon to attend the African American Museum in Philadelphia. Students must then complete an assignment page and written report of their experience for a grade. “One of the barriers that students feel exists to taking advantage of these cultural institutions is that it can be expensive, Wray said. “Not everybody has the money. Wray’s History and Significant of Race class is not the only GenEd class at Temple that recommends the use of the PEX Passport. Art, Human Behavior and Quantitative Literacy are a few of the GenEd programs that use PEX Passports also for assignments in class, but it often depends on the teacher. Although the PEX Passport has been part of Temple's GenEd program for several years, it often goes unnoticed by many students. “I often ask for a show of hands, ‘who knows what PEX is,’ and ‘who knows what the Philadelphia Experience is,' some of the students raise their hands, Wray said. “It’s almost always less than half.” Any student can get a free PEX Passport; all they need to do is go to the Help Desk in the Howard Gittis Student Center. However, there is an expiration date. Each PEX Passport is only good for one school calendar year. Each coupon in the passport can only be used once, and a valid student ID must be shown at the time of purchase. Some coupons offer differing conditions for use. For example, the coupon for the Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, on Fairmount Avenue, can only be used for adult admissions, restricted to normal hours of operation, and is not able to be used for promotional events such as Terror Behind the Walls. It is important to find use in the PEX Passport even outside of class. Turn your ‘boring’ Tuesday evenings into something spectacular, at a discounted price.