Staying on top of school work and having a social life can be challenging for most students. Megan Dorantes, a senior majoring in public administration, is a campus activities board student worker.
Dorantes is the director of the cultural programs. Being the director of an organization that focuses on providing events on campus for students, in her last year of college, her daily life is as hectic as it could get.
She works about 12 hours on an average weekly basis and more when there is an upcoming event such as the homecoming dance held Oct. 25.
“Just three days straight. All of us in the conference room or the office, either making stuff, printing stuff or getting everything ready,” Dorantes said.
They usually start preparing for the events two weeks in advance so her schedule gets pretty packed around the week of the event.
Dorantes spends a lot of her time in the CAB planning and arranging different sorts of activities, striving to do better each time.
“[…] spending two weeks stressing over an event that lasts two hours and now I take a little break and then go back to doing it again,”Dorantes said.
Samarii Berry, a sophomore majoring in addiction counseling with a minor in psychology, is a member of WSGA and has worked alongside Dorantes. Berry describes her as an all around amazing person who is motivated and driven.
“She’s very excited about the work she does and that motivates me to continue wanting to be the best in the position I am,” Berry said. “Her best quality is walking into the room and just immediately knowing how to make everyone laugh. Her vibes and attitude just brings out the best in everybody.”
Dorantes describes the CAB work as hectic but fun.
“I would say that a CAB student’s job is to just provide fun, relaxation and education through their activities,” Dorantes said. “Overall, I think a good portion of our events are a way for students to break away from stress at school, and just ultimately to create memories and have cool stuff to take with them.”
According to Dorantes, the most overwhelming part is coming up with ideas, the preparations and making sure the students are having fun while trying to be on budget. So to deal with all the stress from the events, not to mention her academic life, she just sits down in a crafts event or takes a mental health day and communicates with her fellow directors.
”There have been stressful days where all I did was just sit in the CAB office and just hang with my friends. The directors and I just relax, and that gives me motivation to calm down and go back to being productive,” said Dorantes.
CAB conducts various events for the students that can be stress-relieving activities for many students. Some of these past events included painting flower pots as a way to relax, attending different presentations or going to speakers to learn about any topic they’re interested in. One of their major events last semester was a field day where different organizations put up games and activities as a way to end the school year.
Dorantes gives her advice to other students trying to manage a social life as well as academics.
“Understand your limitations. There is nothing better than taking a break so you can have fun later,” Dorantes said. “There have been many times when I was freshman and sophomore and I would just say yes to everything even though I was completely burnt out. But when you’re emotionally exhausted, you’ll get into a sour mood and it ruins the event.”
Joining CAB can give students opportunities of being social and more involved with other students and campus activities.
“It’s just showing up to the CAB office and saying ‘hey, I want to join’,” Dorantes said.
There are events that CAB has planned that students can look forward to. ‘Field Day’ for the next semester, ‘Break Your Stress’, which involves getting a car that students can beat up and has yet to be approved, and there are other arts, crafts, trivias and giveaways.
More about the CAB can be found at Campus Activities Board WU and their office is located on the underground level of Memorial Union.
Edited by Jayme Thompson and Jeremy Ford
