Friday, December 9, 2022
Image Gallery

 

A light yellow brushstrook swoosh with black text on top of it that reads "Stanley Campus Council Monthly Meetup"

What is a Monthly Meetup? 

Every month, the Stanley Campus Council hosts one event geared toward engaging the entire student body--undergraduate and graduate students of all majors and programs of study. These events vary in the proposed activity or focus, but all were designed by students for students, with a goal of encouraging UI students to visit the Stanley and familiarize themselves with its presence on campus. Usually, these events take place Thursday evenings, when the museum is open late, from 6 - 7:30 pm. This month's event took place from 5 pm - 7 pm. 

 

A photograph of a chalk sandwich-board style sign. It is placed in front of the Stanley's lobby mural. In colorful letters, the sign reads: "SCC Winter De-Stress Fest! Thursday, December 8, 5 - 7 pm. All students welcome!"

December 8

December is always a strange month. It's the end of the semester and the end of the year--everyone's a mix of exhausted and antsy as they reflect on the semester and year behind them, as well as the semester and year ahead of them. For this month's meetup, we decided to lean into this, and focus on hosting an event that was more lowkey. We wanted something truly not-stressful--for our attendees as well as ourselves! Something that would be fun, while also being relaxing. We try to strike the balance well with every event, but for this one it felt most important. 

We, of course, needed to have food. We went with the crowd pleasers: pizza, cookies, a fruit tray, some snack mix, and an assortment of soda, sparkling water, and still water. We anticipated some people might come just for the food, which is totally fair! It's hard to do anything for yourself--much less cook--at the end of the semester when you're swamped with projects and assignments and studying for finals. In addition to the food, we had some classic board games available (Jenga, Connect 4, UNO, Operation, and Hungry Hungry Hippos) and played some Wallace and Grommit shorts on the lobby projector. 

A photography of the lobby, filled with students there for the event. The lobby is dimly lit, and the projector at the far end is showing Wallace and Grommit. There are clusters of tables with students grouped around them, eating, crafting, and hanging out.

 

We had a few options as far as activities went. We wanted options where students could be as involved--or not involved--as they wanted. We had two different crafts available for students to do: air dry clay and rainbow scratch papers. We figured an idle creative task would be nice. Some people just scribbled on the paper or doodled their names, while others meticulously created whole artistic scenes! Same with the clay--some people just squished it around in their hands for fun, and others created very detailed works of art (some inspired by Wallace and Grommit). Check out the gallery at the bottom of the page for more photos of the event and peoples' creations!

 

Two students stand together in front of the Odita mural in the Stanley lobby. Each of them is holding their clay creation in their hands. They're smiling, posing with the two clay snowmen they've made.

Looking forward

You can expect Monthly Meetups to happen... well, once a month! Follow us on Instagram to keep up to date with what we've got planned for each event, and check back here for photos and recaps on how these events went. Our next event will take place at the beginning of the spring semester, on January 19. 

Did you attend this Monthly Meetup, or any other Monthly Meetup, and take pictures? Share them with us via email! Or tag us on Instagram, @stanleycampuscouncil. 

 

Gallery
A photograph of a chalk sandwich-board style sign. It is placed in front of the Stanley's lobby mural. In colorful letters, the sign reads: "SCC Winter De-Stress Fest! Thursday, December 8, 5 - 7 pm. All students welcome!"
A photography of the lobby, filled with students there for the event. The lobby is dimly lit, and the projector at the far end is showing Wallace and Grommit. There are clusters of tables with students grouped around them, eating, crafting, and hanging out.
Mya, a member of the SCC, stands in front of the lobby mural holding up her clay creation. She has recreated Grommit, from Wallace and Grommit.
A close up shot at one of the craft tables. Piles of clay packets surround a cardboard box holding plastic bags. The bags are to keep the air dry clay safe from hardening once it's been opened. Sitting on the box is a clay creation, a replica of Grommit the dog.
A hand holds up a clay replica of Grommit the dog. In the background is the projector screen, which is playing the credits for Wallace and Grommit.
A close up shot of two drawings on rainbow scratch papers.
Two students stand together in front of the Odita mural in the Stanley lobby. Each of them is holding their clay creation in their hands. They're smiling, posing with the two clay snowmen they've made.
A photo taken from above, looking down at one of the craft table. Students sit around a table with a blue gingham tablecloth, sculpting various things out of air dry clay.
Another clay creation: a student holds in their hand a replica of Shaun the Sheep, from Wallace and Grommit, with the lobby mural in the background.
Another shot of the lobby, showing the backs of students watching the movie playing on the screen.
A student poses, smiling, in front of the lobby mural with their clay creation: a calico colored cat with green eyes, a strawberry hat, and a fish in its mouth.
An up close image of one of the scratch paper art pieces. It features a landscape, with grass and flowers in the foreground; a road, in front of a house with a tree next to it in the middle ground; and then mountains, clouds, and the sun in the background.
A shot of the lobby, full of students crafting, eating, and hanging out. A large screen at the far end of the room is playing Wallace and Grommit.
A close up shot of the cat clay figure--a calico cat with green eyes, a strawberry shaped hat, and a green fish in its mouth.
Another aerial shot of the craft table, where students sit and work on sculpting air dry clay or playing a game with art cards.
Two clay creations sit on the red couches in the museum lobby. They're both characters from the Wallace and Grommit short we watched at the event: Grommit the dog and a penguin.