On Tuesday, Nov. 2, the Creative Arts Therapy Club hosted a “Nature Scavenger Hunt” on the quad from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.; as students passed by the table, they were invited to take a list of items to find and paste onto the collective collage being created over the course of the event. With pieces ranging from pinecones to tree bark, the art project quickly took shape as students glued on all their individual finds.

As an organization, the CAT Club is a student-led organization mainly for CAT majors and minors, as well as anyone who might be interested in the use of art as a way to promote mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing and growth. Professor Terri Giller, a new faculty member of the CAT department here on campus, shared that, overall, the goal for the club is to provide students with an opportunity to engage in art, learn from one another, and interact outside of classes. “We aim to have at least one campus-wide event for WLU students each semester. The goal is to offer opportunities to participate and engage in art making as a way to improve wellness, or even just think about creativity a little differently. Activities across campus are geared towards everyone, not just art majors or those who are “artistic;” the CAT club believes everyone can benefit from engaging in an art process.”

Utilizing this foundational line of thinking, that everyone can gain something positive from a creative and or artistic experience, members of the CAT club agreed during the planning process that a scavenger hunt was a relatively universal concept that can be quickly grasped and engaged with. Specifically, a scavenger hunt doesn’t necessarily have any expectations or goals, as a more specific art task might require. Elaborating on this idea, Giller spoke on the idea of the event being an opportunity for the club to simply “open the door” to more participation from the general campus community. “Club members set a goal to provide a healthy distraction from the busyness of schoolwork, encourage some mindful observation of their surroundings, and interact with their environment. Integrating nature in an art task is a great way to do this,” Giller said.

With hope to establish a more consistent schedule of art making opportunities for the Hilltop, Giller and the CAT Club both hope that projects such as these will provide “tangible evidence of our campus community [as a whole]… coming together for a common goal (in this case, completing an art project).” This is something any community can never have enough of.