This year, I’m working on the Campus Activity Council (CAC) as one of my on-campus jobs. By the time this article is published, I will have worked at four events, the newest being What Would You Do for Money. And if the first three events are anything to go off of, I’m in for a very fun job. 

But what exactly is CAC? What purpose do we serve? Some students, such as first-years, may not know the role we serve to the community. Older students may joke that we exist mostly to help keep students from going to off-campus parties.

While there is some truth to that latter statement, to say CAC’s sole purpose is to stop off-campus partying is very demeaning to the hard work that CAC members put in. 

The Campus Activity Council, according to Goshen College’s website, organizes events to help foster a healthy community on campus. One way we do this is through the Slip-and-Slide Kickball event for first-years and RAs. 

Rianna Koteles, a junior elementary/special education major, is the spirit chair of CAC and my “boss.” Koteles described kickball as a great icebreaker for first-years to meet each other and older students. 

Slip-and-Slide Kickball encouraged students to let out their silly side by sliding on tarps covered in cheap dish soap into kiddie pools. It’s certainly not an event to be taken seriously. For reference, see some of the photos taken at the event, as students beam as they slide precariously into the kiddie pools. 

What most students probably missed was the prep time needed to get the field ready. CAC includes a lot of teamwork on many levels, such as deciding how long to make the tarps between the bases. It was bad enough trying to keep the tarps blowing away from the slight wind. Imagine our horror when we realized we didn’t have any spikes!! Thankfully, our CAC leaders were able to rush to Menards to purchase new spikes for the tarp. 

One of the more tedious parts of Slip-and-Slide was having to refill the pools, especially after a student slid in and spilled a lot out. While frustrating, it was definitely worth it to see all the participating students laughing as they and their classmates slipped their way to victory or an out. 

Before joining CAC, I had no idea about the amount of behind-the-scenes work that goes into making all the events happen. For example, we spent two meetings planning the theme for Kick-Off. We had to consider the cost of decorations, where we could and couldn’t hang up decorations in Reith’s hallway and the budget for our decorations. 

CAC also requires a certain amount of improvisation at events. A recent example was a “welcome back” movie night on the KMY lawn. We had trouble keeping our screen from falling because of a small breeze, which we thought we solved by changing the location of the screen. Imagine our surprise when, as “Pokémon: Detective Pikachu” began to play, the screen started falling toward our audience! 

Thankfully, no one was hit by the screen, and we easily resolved our problem by placing two lawn chairs in front of the screen. 

CAC is definitely more than an alternative to off-campus parties, but if we help keep students from getting in trouble on campus, then I call that a success. I look forward to the coming year with CAC, and encourage anyone interested in CAC to apply next spring. You won’t regret it, and you get paid to do fun work. 

While this is my first year in CAC, I am definitely glad I decided to join. CAC is a fun job, but also a learning experience. Anyone interested in working in running events should look at CAC, as you gain first-hand experience at figuring out how to get a specific demographic to come to events.

If that’s not of your interest, consider joining anyway. The job doesn’t require any specific field of interest. All you need to bring is enthusiasm, an open mind and a lot of creative ideas for events you think your friends on campus will enjoy.