Curate hosts first vision board event

By Sydney Green Collegian Freelancer

The women of Hillsdale were invited to gather for a creative study break to make vision boards, organized by Curate, at Rough Draft on March 3.

The event was led by Hannah Walsh, certified art therapist and a staff member at the Ambler Health and Wellness Center. Walsh said the idea behind creating a vision board is to call the passive person to action by having them create a tangible goal.

“A vision board is a collage of images and words meant to inspire and motivate a person to reach a personal goal,” Walsh said. “They are helpful because they serve as a visual reminder of a personal goal. It’s giving a physical manifestation to what you’d like to achieve.”

The women were supplied with a variety of paints, colored paper, mod podge, pens and markers, pictures, and stickers to create their boards. According to Walsh, vision boards are very accessible to those with varying art levels.

“A vision board can be done by anyone,” Walsh said.

“All the participants needed to do was find images and words that fit their goals, and arrange them in a way that inspired them.”

Freshman Lydia Colby said she thought the event was fun and a perfect way to quickly outline her objectives.

“I liked it because it was almost a shorter form of bullet journaling,” Colby said. “It was nice to be able to visualize what your goals really are”

Sophomore Hannah Arends said she enjoyed taking a break from her studies to attend.

“The event was a great moment to pause and take time to be creative and reflective,” Arends said. “It was also a fun social opportunity to catch up with my friends and encourage each other in our visions and aspirations.”

GOAL leaders discuss service, leadership

By Alexandra Hall Science and Tech Editor

“Service is a method of learning,” senior Will McIntosh said at the GOAL program informational panel Tuesday. “You learn as you do.”

McIntosh, leader of the High Rise Ministry GOAL program, was one of four panelists at Tuesday’s event that sought to educate students on the meaning of volunteer work while at Hillsdale. McIntosh helps ministers to low-income, elderly, or disabled residents of the High Rise Apartments, a section eight housing unit. Through parties, game nights, and Bible study, volunteers work to build relationships with members of the community who are isolated, McIntosh said.

“I know saying Hillsdale is a bubble is a super popular thing to talk about,” McIntosh said. “But you don’t really get the sense of how isolated we are until you go out into the community. There really is a disconnect between the college and this community— the GOAL programs are a wonderful way to facilitate college students serving the community. I wish more students had the desire to take what we’re learning here and then take it into the community.”

Also on the panel were senior Macy Berglund, who runs the Buddy Reading program, and juniors Emma Widmer and Matthew Karten.

“I originally came to Hillsdale because I was recruited for the track team,” Karten said. “But it just wasn’t my place on campus. After meeting with Chief and the Horizons program, which is an alternative school within the local public high schools, I decided to get involved with mentoring some of those kids.”

Karten began S.O.A.R. mentorship, a new GOAL program as of last semester, in order to help serve high school students and support them with their academic and post-graduate plans.

“When the program really got off the ground, there was this kid who was going through some really rough stuff,” Karten said. “We were able to connect with him and see that he had a passion for football. Even though his grades weren’t all there and he couldn’t play for the school, we were able to connect him with a semi-pro team. It was super rewarding for me to see that he knew I cared about him.”