Elizabethtown College’s Office of Campus Recreation and Well-Being (RecWell) offers different craft activities for students to explore while taking a break from the stress of homework and classes. Joni Eisenhauer, assistant director of health promotion at Etown, is the brains behind CreativiTEA Week.
CreativiTEA weeks are hosted in The Well, which is located on the second floor of the Bowers Center. Eisenhauer plans each of the weeks to have a theme that matches the season. The most recent CreativiTEA Week allowed students to stop by during The Well’s hours to paint their nails with a variety of different colors and decorate them with Valentine’s Day themed stickers. Other self-care items are also available for students to take and use while participating in the activity.
Eisenhauer gave Assistant Features Editor Ava Gates an inside look at what planning goes into the CreativiTEA weeks and how the activity started at RecWell.
Ava Gates: How and why did you start CreativiTEA week?
Joni Eisenhauer: RecWell is very committed to offering various types of activities to address multiple aspects of well-being. We know arts and crafts are an outlet for many individuals and felt there was a need to offer more passive-type events to allow students to engage with their creativity in an informal way. Students seem to enjoy the freedom to express their creativity and spend as much or as little time as they wish doing so. It also reinforces our mission of empowering students to develop healthy habits for themselves.
Gates: What planning goes into running a CreativiTEA week? Are there specific activities that you plan out in advance?
Eisenhauer: We look at what themes and projects went well in the past and repeat those. For example, we always have success with crafts that are delivered to the Masonic Village, Candy Grams that are made to send to other students on campus and painting small flower pots. We try to incorporate a variety of different crafts so we can appeal to more students as we are aware not everyone likes to paint but maybe they are really interested in making jewelry.
Gates: Is there an average turnout you expect for the event?
Eisenhauer: Our average turnout is around 30-40 students—however, we’ve had higher turnouts for more popular events.
Gates: How many CreativiTEA weeks do you aim to have in a semester?
Eisenhauer: We host one week of CreativiTea every month each semester apart from December and May. We host “Don’t Stress Before the Test” during those months to help students alleviate their stress during finals.
*Content has been edited for length and clarity.
Although the CreativiTEA week for February has passed, students can keep a look out for the next week of activities in March. For more information on RecWell’s upcoming events follow their Instagram page @etownrecwell.
