The pandemic challenged theCrew‘s mission of promoting student activities and engagement. Five semesters later, its members have created new ways to connect with students.
“theCrew’s job is to meet students where they are,” Director Olivia Fannon said. “It is our role to be the community that students need.”
theCrew puts on activities that are both educational and entertaining. Last month, its “Hive” event combined its mission of engagement with a lesson on the importance of bees.
The event emphasized the importance of bee conservation through infographics, explaining how honey bee depopulation affects not just the environment, but people as well.
Students snacked on honey-flavored treats and played interactive games such as Buzzer Bee-ter, an arcade basketball game, and Honeybee Tree, an action game where players try not to disturb the sleeping bees.
The Hive event included personal interaction between theCrew and students, but for much of the pandemic, theCrew was limited in how it could engage with students.
Since the fall of 2020, a majority of theCrew’s events have been in person; however, the interaction with students was limited. Between social distancing and restrictions on indoor events, the organization could not connect as it did in the past.
“Last year was a big blow to us,” Rebecca Thompson, director of marketing for theCrew, said. “The goal is to give students experiences on campus, so we created ‘CrewKits’ to give to students so that they could do activities in their room or with their roommates.”
The CrewKits helped the organization engage with students, especially first-year students wanting to make new connections. theCrew hosted tabling events for students to pick up the kits and take them back to their dorm rooms.
This semester, theCrew has shifted toward more in-person events, but not all things are back to normal, Fannon said.
“After the pandemic, reaching out to students has been both easier and harder. There are students who are eager to meet new people and try new things, and there are students who are weary of such experiences,” Fannon said.
To accommodate students’ preferences, the organization puts on a variety of events, which still include the option to grab and enjoy CrewKits. Some events were strictly virtual like watch parties and Zoom get-togethers.
Even with a mostly virtual 2020 school year, theCrew experienced a higher turnout to events than they anticipated. Students were eager for interactions, engagement and experiences.
Following theCrew Hive event, the organization hosted a clothing drive for students to donate old winter clothes to the Presbyterian Night Shelter and a makeshift build a bear workshop for students to make their own stuffed animals.
To join theCrew, students can attend a meeting on the third floor of the BLUU on Monday nights at 8 p.m.
theCrew hosts weekly events every Tuesday and Thursday, so to be on the lookout for their next event, follow their Instagram account at @thecrew_tcu.
