Campus Activities Board Gets Creative to Make Fond Memories MacKenzie Riley Young | April 2, 2021

Making things fun during a pandemic on a college campus is an enormous task, but Thomas College student leaders made it possible.

Many staff and students made social life events engaging this year – with students from the Campus Activities Board (CAB) playing a particularly large role.

CAB is a student club that plans, coordinates, and hosts student activities, both on and off campus. Events range from do-it-yourself projects to apple picking and bowling and a Thomas favorite, BINGO nights.

“CAB plays a huge role in campus life by inviting students to take a break from their studies and do something enjoyable in a safe, welcoming environment,” says Sam Coughlin ’20, who was very involved in CAB. “It also gives the club members actual experience creating an event and seeing their ideas come to life.” Although the 2020-2021 academic year has been unique, Sam notes that in the fall semester, CAB members hosted the same number of events – just with extra precautions.

First-year student Addison Landon says that although she has never experienced Thomas in non-pandemic times, she loves being active in CAB.

“This year we had a new factor to consider when planning our events: student safety. We enlisted a variety of safety precautions to help protect the health of the Thomas College community, some of which included limiting social groups to four people and ensuring that off-campus events were closed to the public,” says Addison.

Events fall into three categories: entertainment, homegrown events, and excursions. Entertainment events included having a performer on campus; homegrown efforts were on-campus activities, such as paint nights; and excursions (off-campus trips) included bowling or movie nights. “My personal favorite this past semester was our Dine-In for Dessert event in November,” recalls Addison. “We decorated the BerryDunn Student Senate Room with fairy and tea lights and served sweet treats from a local bakery, Holy Cannoli.”

She is very proud of what she and her fellow CAB members accomplished. “Despite the uncertainty around the pandemic, we were still able to provide students with entertaining events, all while keeping them safe.”

Sam has graduated but has so many fond CAB-related memories. “CAB brought out a side of me that I didn’t know I had. It taught me what it is like to be a leader and to work with people who have different leadership styles,” she notes.

Addison says the spring semester is full of fun events, too, and that more will be on the horizon. “My involvement with CAB constantly keeps me engaged with the Thomas College community. I have made so many wonderful friends, and I know that the best is yet to come.”

*This story was originally published in the Winter 2021 edition of the Thomas magazine. View the full magazine here.