By Erin Brody, Arts & Culture Editor
Many Saint Vincent students were surprised to see a raffle for Billie Eilish and Willow Smith concert tickets when they came back for the 2022 spring semester. Curious people looked twice at the table advertising the raffle in the Carey Center, taken aback at how a few dollars could score two contemporary artist concert tickets.
Freshman communications major Natalie Homison, while she did not enter the raffle, was one of those curious students.
“I do think it was pretty impressive they were able to pull it off,” Homison said.
The raffle began Jan. 18 and ended Jan. 31, with many entries to the contest. The results were announced Feb. 1, which is when sophomore education major, Jada Davenport, found out she was going to Pittsburgh’s PPG Paints Arena on Feb. 8 for the concert.
Davenport reported her joy upon receiving the news as she was trying to win the tickets for her sister.
“My sister had found out that she was losing her eyesight in her one eye right before I had to come back to school and I was trying to win these tickets for her because it just seems like she can’t catch a break,” Davenport said. “I was so happy and excited that I actually thought I was going to cry because I knew she would be excited, and it made me happy to make her happy during her tough times.”
According to Keila Hernandez-Lobos, the Office of Multicultural Student Life graduate assistant, the idea for the Billie Eilish and Willow Smith Raffle Fundraiser was conceptualized by the Uniting All People (UAP) Club.
Vice President of UAP and senior integrated science major, Sarah Boyle, specifically credited the event to “the amazing idea of Adam Meneses to draw attention and funds for the group. He initially suggested it to Kelia and me, and we were both very excited at the prospect.”
Boyle explained that while purchasing the tickets was “quite the process,” there were no complications in the actual purchasing. However, UAP did need approval to use the tickets for fundraising purposes. Once the club had checked in with the proper departments, Boyle reported that they received approval and were able to hold the raffle.
On the night they announced the winner, UAP also reported on their Instagram page that they “look forward to doing this again in the future.”
“I absolutely think they should hold more raffles,” Davenport said. “After what happened to me, I think that they are going to make someone’s day with these giveaways.”