After a long Labor Day weekend, students will hopefully be returning to campus refreshed and ready to take on the semester. However, students living on campus may be feeling confined or bored after the long holiday due to their constant academic environment. With a rule change forcing out-of-state freshmen to live on campus their first year of college, many freshmen students have not left campus.

“I’ve left campus a couple times, but I don’t really know the city so I try not to,” said Freshman Anastasia Walton. “If I knew anything about the city I’d consider exploring a bit more.”

Sam Torres is a freshman from Albuquerque who has been to Las Cruces before, but still is not very familiar with the city. “I don’t really know the city too well so I’ve just hung out with my friends in the dorms.”

For students looking for an opportunity to get off campus and experience Las Cruces, The Rio Grande Theatre’s “Thursday Night Jam Sessions” will certainly deliver. With different local and regional acts performing every Thursday night the theater keeps the variety high, offering something for everyone. Local bands like Cordova, Flat Blak and Mariachi Alma De Jalisco have played at the theatre drawing crowds of all ages to the theatre.

“I think it’s great to see the Rio Grande Theatre being used this way,” aid a Rio Grande volunteer. “It’s been a while since I’ve been to the theatre to see anything!”

Mariachi Alma De Jalisco played at the Rio Grande Theatre last Thursday, Aug. 31^st to a moderate, but enthusiastic crowd. With traditional Mariachi sound and style Mariachi Alma De Jalisco performed exceptionally well and left the crowd in awe.

“We have different acts every Thursday because it gets people in the theater” said the Venue coordinator for the Rio Grande Theatre, Hilary Dutcher.  “We try to get local and regional acts to play here, even bands from El Paso and Juarez.”

“The Thursday Night Jam Sessions are a great opportunity for anyone to come and see some of the local acts here in Las Cruces,” said Chirs Fairve, Director of Marketing & Communications and Interim Rio Grande Theatre Manager. “There’s no place like the Rio Grande Theatre for seeing live music. It’s a great venue and I hope more people come out to these shows.”

Rio Grande Theater is a great opportunity for NMSU students to get out of their dorms and explore a little bit of what Las Cruces has to offer.

Admission to the “Thursday Night Jam Session” is cheap, and is always priced at $5 (cash only) per person. The concessions are also very affordable and friendly to students who are on a budget. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the shows start at 7:30 p.m. For more information regarding the shows visit http://www.riograndetheatre.org/thursday-night-jam-sessions