UMW Eagles get creative at weekly Crafternoons
2 min read
Getting creative while crafting can be a much needed stress reliever for Mary Washington students. You can make friends and make art at SAE’s weekly Crafternoons. | Photo courtesy of Alisa Rachanow
by MADISON FRY
Staff Writer
The Office of Student Activities and Engagement has introduced a new event for UMW Eagles to get crafty. Crafternoons are happening every Wednesday from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. and encourage Mary Washington students to spend time with their friends while being creative and making an assortment of different crafts.
“All of my experiences [at Crafternoons] have been pretty good,” said Ariana Adamek, a senior theatre and anthropology double major. “I’ve been surprised to see how popular it’s gotten over the semester and how many people are there every week.”
The crafts are designed so that even the most novice crafter can participate. Some examples offered this semester include mosaic coasters, tie blankets, decorating plant pots, friendship bracelets, bookmarks and t-shirt tote bags.
“I love the variety,” said Adamek. “Sometimes the crafts are things that I’ve done before, like tote bag decorating, and sometimes it’s something completely new to me that I can learn while I’m there. There’s also no expectation that the end result is ‘good,’ so you can really just have fun and make whatever your heart desires.”
One of Adamek’s favorite crafts that she did was the mosaic coasters.
“It was something that I hadn’t done before but it was still really easy and fun, and I love the way it turned out,” she said.
Typically, campus events are offered in the evening which can be inconvenient for commuter students or those with conflicting schedules. Crafternoons were created to be accessible for more students who may work or have different activities in the evening.
“I like that there’s an SAE event in the day because the nights can be busy and I like making things…I thrive off of making things so I appreciate making things with other crafters (and it’s not in the night, which is great),” said Katie Reif, a senior marketing and communication and digital studies double major.
Alisa Rachanow, a junior business administration major, attended five Crafternoons this semester and hopes they will continue next semester. SAE staff could not immediately be reached for comment regarding the future of the event, but several students are hopeful it will return.
“I would love for crafternoons to continue next semester,” she said. “Crafternoons are a great opportunity for me as a commuter to have something fun and creative to do when I have breaks in between classes. I also just love doing crafts so this is a fun time for me to be able to do that.”
