D2D announces Lil Jon to perform in May

By: Meredith Whelchel – Managing Editor

Performer Lil Jon will join University of Dayton students on the pool deck at the 2014 Dayton 2 Daytona trip May 6 to May 11 in Florida.

Jude Guerra, a senior entrepreneurship major, said the artists were selected from a pool of suggestions from students via social media and evaluations given out at Halfway 2 Dayton. He said there were a couple hundred surveys taken from students.

“We made a list of the top 10 most suggested artists and submitted them to our agent,” said Guerra, the executive director of the trip. “We also looked at what is most practical and affordable.”

He said the selection process also involves a committee meeting and coordinating with the booking agent to see who’s available at the time of the trip.

Guerra said the most requested genres were electronic,
hip-hop, pop and country.

Scott Bridwell, a senior mechanical engineering major, said although country was a popular suggestion, finding an affordable, quality artist in that genre proved to be difficult.

“A lot of people suggested artists like Florida Georgia Line, which would be great, but it’s just not doable,” Bridwell said. “It’s hard to find a smaller country artist that would appeal to that crowd.”

Although budget information could not be released, Guerra said the artist selection is dependent upon how many students sign up for the trip and the amount of leftover money from previous years. As of March 12, 1,651 students have signed up for the D2D trip at a cost of $250 each.

Guerra said the process of signing an artist has been in the works since December with a university legal representative and the Student Development administration.

Bridwell said he isn’t sure at this point if they will be selecting another artist, possibly a student group, but there will be no more than three performers at Daytona.

“We’re excited about the performers this year and we know they’ll do a great job,” Bridwell said.