To help take away the stress of the first week of classes, about 50 students gathered in the Clark Student Center to create crafts for the University Programming Board’s Craft Craze Jan. 17.

Ruby Arriaga, activities coordinator for Student Affairs, said the craft craze went well.

“It went really good surprisingly,” Arriaga said. “I guess because it’s crafts and certain crafts draw people in… Everyone was like, ‘Oh my God,’ so they just came.”

Low-budget, No-budget committee chair Angelica Symonette said she noticed the increase in attendees and was also shocked with the turnout.

“It went really well,” said Symonette. “It actually turned out better than expected. I mean usually our events are well-attended, but this is crazy.”

Arriaga said she believes it may be one of UPB’s best craft event.

Arriaga said. “It’s one of the best. We have a lot of good craft events, but this is probably one of the best ones.”

With the increase in the turnout of students compared to previous events, Symonette said she was forced to let students who came late know there was a shortage of supplies for the crafts.

Out of all of the crafts provided for the students, Arriaga said she was proud to admit it cost the school close to nothing.

“All this stuff we’ve had, so basically we’re purging from crafts, other crafts basically,” Arriaga said. “All the stuffed animals, the name art, everything we’ve had in house, so it was nothing. The only thing I bought were the mugs and it was less than $100.”

Arriaga said she hopes the event helped students take a break from the stress of the first week of classes and meet new people around campus.

“It’s all free so I think that they need a break, and it’s the first week of school. And even though it’s the first week of school, they still need a break because they feel quite overwhelmed of what’s going on,” Arriaga said. “So just have some fun and go with some friends. I heard a lot of people were meeting each other for the first time, so I thought that was awesome.”

Zarya Maiato, mass communication sophomore, said she enjoyed craft craze and believes it was great way for students to get creative without spending a dime.

“This is a cool event because they’re allowing us to create things and be creative for free,” Maiato said. “And often college students don’t have access to creative things without spending a lot of money so this is a cool event.”

Out of all the crafts at Craft Craze, Symonette said she admits the Sharpie mugs were her favorite and hopes to help plan future crafts for this semester’s events.

“That was my original idea and then all this other stuff got added on,” Symonette said. “I’m thinking for February we’re probably gonna be making snow globes, but I’m not sure yet. I have a lot of other things planned, but I’m not sure how they’re gonna go yet.”

Arriaga hopes to get the future events planned at next week’s UPB meeting though she is unsure of what future crafts they will provide for the students.

“We’re actually meeting next week to talk about what exactly is going to happen the rest of the semester,” Arriaga said.

Arriaga encourages interested students to make sure to check their social media and the campus calendar.

Arriaga said, “It’s in the Stampede Week calendar, we advertise through social media.”

STUDENT OPINIONS

Tazz Cooper, psychology sophomore | “My favorite craft was the cupcake and I like painting.”

Shaenera Williams, athletic training sophomore | “I liked the frames because I need something for my wall and the event is fun.”

RJ Joshi, finance junior | “You can pretty much put whatever you feel or whatever you imagine onto something real so you can create something beautiful.”

Ariana Farris, psychology sophomore | “This event was a lot of fun. There was a really good turn out, and it was definitely a really good way to de-stress at the beginning of the semester.”

Floran Gage, psychology and criminal justice senior | “We were just passing and we saw this so we decided to stop by.”