JagPRIDE hosts May Day basket-making seminar
Students filled baskets with flowers and gardening seeds as part of a stress-free seminar on Tuesday, May 1
May 1, 2018
A crowd of students anxiously stood in line to gather the required materials to assemble their May Day Baskets as part of the stress-free May Day basket-making seminar hosted by jagPRIDE in the Senior Cafe on Tuesday, May 1.
The seminar served as the second stress-free seminar of the year after an adult coloring seminar in December. Specifically designed to take place near finals week, jagPRIDE member Erin Miller hoped that the students who attended walked away feeling a little bit more relaxed than when they came in.
“Our main goal is to have the students come and do a fun activity that relieves stress,” Miller said. “I hope students benefit by relieving stress from whatever school holds, their activities outside of school or even the stress of finals.”
In order to assemble their baskets, students selected a flower, a packet of gardening seeds and different colors of paper that they decorated with crayons and ribbons. JagPRIDE also provided cookies to everyone who attended. While she initially came to the seminar to spend time with friends, freshman Kim Schein also enjoyed being able to decorate her basket.
“I came mostly because I thought it would be fun and I wanted to hang out with some people,” Schein said. “My favorite part was decorating my basket with a whole bunch of ribbons.”
For freshman Audrey Hereth, the spring look provided by the flowers was her favorite part.
“My favorite part was picking out all of the flowers because I like looking at them all,” Hereth said.
By making a basket, Hereth benefitted from the stress-free aspect of the seminar.
“I was doing stuff with my hands, so I definitely felt like I was doing something while also relaxing from school and other stuff,” Hereth said.
After lower student attendance rates at events last year, Miller and the rest of jagPRIDE tried reaching out to get a higher student attendance to their events this year. According to Miller, the improvements were seen in the large turnout of the seminar.
“Last year we had a bunch of stress-free seminars and the turnouts were not very big,” Miller said. “We started looking at the bigger picture and planning bigger events and this year we have had a huge turnout with people who come and it’s great.”
The baskets gave Hereth unique ideas for room decorations or possible gifts.
“I’m probably going to hang my basket in my room or give it to my mom for Mother’s Day because I’m sure she would like it,” Hereth said.
After completing her basket, Schein felt like she would enjoy doing similar activities again.
“I just think that this is a fun thing to do and I might try it again,” Schein said. “I would come again just because I find crafts like this fun.
