MU’s Campus Activities Programming Board, also known as Stuff To Do at MU, will continue to provide socially distanced recreational events for students throughout the spring semester.
In the fall, CAPB hosted a variety of in-person and virtual events, such as outdoor movie nights, live music and free livestreamed cooking demonstrations. CAPB executive director Carolyn Faber said that these kinds of pandemic-altered events will carry on into 2021.
“We put on a lot of fun events that are meant to engage students; to make them feel like they’re a part of the Mizzou community but also to relax, to have fun,” Faber said. “At our core, we want to engage students, but we also want to make sure that they are safe and healthy.”
New virtual events such as GooseChase rose to popularity this school year to promote social distancing and will continue to take place on campus. GooseChase is an app that specializes in custom scavenger hunts. Students can participate in these hunts and compete to win prizes like Tiger Cash by downloading the free GooseChase app and checking CAPB’s social media accounts for news about upcoming hunts.
Another one of CAPB’s pandemic adaptations are free crafting kits, typically handed out, in or around the MU Student Center. Before the pandemic, students completed crafts together in person. Now, students can pick up individual kits filled with crafting materials to assemble on their own time. Students can expect to see these kits again this semester.
Faber feels most excited about this spring’s returning virtual cooking demonstrations with MU’s executive chef, Eric Cartwright. In anticipation for these livestreamed cooking lessons, students can pick up free grocery kits on campus. Then they can make the recipe while watching Cartwright cook live from a studio in Sabai.
“I can’t necessarily share what recipes [will be used in the spring] yet, but some of them are going to be pretty good,” Faber said.
As for returning spring traditions, Megan Boyd, CAPB daytime programming production chair, said students can look forward to more multicultural-themed events, as well as Caring, Bearing, Sharing: a campus tradition in which students collect food and raise money for Tiger Pantry, MU’s campus food bank, in exchange for the chance to make their own stuffed animal. She also notes that the Spring Equinox will “most likely” happen in March, when students can pick up their own potted plant to celebrate the season.
According to Boyd, CAPB’s stance on Mizzou-a-Palooza, the yearly concert and carnival to commemorate the end of the spring semester, is uncertain and dependent upon the nature of the pandemic.
“Usually we have Mizzou-a-Palooza at the end of the spring semester; we don’t know entirely if that’s going to happen, but we hope so,” Boyd said. “Fingers crossed that [it] comes back, but it just depends on how COVID goes.”
Students can learn more about CAPB and hear about upcoming activities and events by following @StuffToDoAtMU on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
_Edited by Sophie Chappell | schappell@themaneater.com _