Article Written by Olivia Simonson, Photo by Olivia Simonson
On Thursday, February 15, the Art Student Union (ASU) hosted their semester recruitment meeting in hopes of gaining new members, and to look for new leaders as well.
The meeting was led by the current ASU members in hopes of showing those joining what it means to be a part of the ASUn. They allowed time for questions at the end of the meeting, and they also provided notecards and pens for those who preferred to write down the questions and suggestions. The meeting itself covered various topics, ranging from what they planned for the semester to future ideas and how to keep the organization alive after three of the four leaders stepped down.
“My hope is to leave ASU better than we found it,” said President Jessica Meichsner, who helped restart ASU at St Cloud State during the fall of 2022 after the COVID 19 pandemic. “We’re finally in a place with some solid foundations and achievable goals for the future, so I just want to set up the next group of leadership for success. I hope we get some passionate leaders on board who can take ASU to places we couldn’t reach.”
During their final semester as leaders, the ASU board has plans to expand their art boundaries and learning beyond the SCSU campus. The group is in the process of planning field trips to the Minneapolis Institute of Art and Bruno Press, located in St(.) Joseph. Any student is free to join for both the on campus and off campus activities they have planned, regardless of whether that student is an art major or majoring in something completely unrelated.
“I think advocating for the arts in any capacity is important, but specifically for ASU, we want to push for everyone to explore art,” said ASU secretary Stephanie Shoemaker, who considers the Art Student Union to be her second home. “We encourage students of all majors, abilities, or interests to check ASU out and try something new with us or get back into an old hobby that’s maybe sat on the shelf for a while.”
As for activities on campus, the organization has hosted a variety of trendy and fun craft nights in the past, and they are looking to further their involvement with both art majors and non-art majors on campus. They are looking to incorporate some life and still-life drawing sessions into their events calendar and they are currently talking with the Resident Hall Association to host a ‘make a pet rock’ event in one of the resident halls.
“The date is TBA but will be in the next month or two,” said Meichsner, who is looking to help connect the organization with other groups on campus. “We’re excited to collaborate on more events with other groups on campus.”
The Art Student Union looks to provide a creative outlet for all students and announces their events through fliers on campus, along with regular announcements on their Instagram (@art_student_union). Any questions about the organization or ideas for events can be directly sent to their Instagram account or emailed to ASU President Jessica Meichsner.
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