Bucknell’s Campus Activities & Programs (CAP) Center designs and conducts the university-sponsored extracurricular events on campus. They’re a part of the larger Student Life team, which consists of “Fraternity and Sorority Affairs (FSA), Outdoor Education and Leadership (OEL), Bucknell Student Government (BSG) and student organizations,” in the words of assistant director of campus activities and programs Courtney Ross. “Erin Paschal provides leadership for the entire pillar, serving as the associate dean of student life. The FSA team consists of Olivia Libby, Nellie Forker and Anna Vaughn Stewart. OEL consists of Anthony Molinaro, Morgan Costello and Elaina Reuther. Kelly Reich provides administrative support for the Student Life pillar and Rachel Probst is the newest member of the team and oversees student organizations.”

Brent Papson, assistant dean, and Ty Derk, also an assistant director, are two other prominent staff members at the CAP Center. Papson oversees “many of our large-scale programs, such as the concert, Bucknell Refresh and Bison Sound.” Additionally, he is “launching an initiative around Bucknell spirit and traditions,” and when not at work, if such a time exists, he enjoys spending time with his family, attending/watching Philadelphia games “(Go Birds!)” and working on house projects, particularly woodworking. Derk, who operates the Seventh Street Studio & Makerspace and creates weekly events and classes, “strive[s] to help inspire and provide students with a safe place to explore their imaginations.” In his spare time, he likes to “work on my own artwork, spend time in nature, play video games and try to keep up with my three young boys.” 

The Bucknellian chatted with Ross to get an inside view of what the CAP Center is, who’s involved in it and how they plan student life activities. Ross herself “get[s] to oversee a variety of event programs and spaces on campus including Uptown, the Student Kitchen, the 21+ Tasting program, our weekday events and the CORE student programming board.” She also oversees “most of our marketing, and the CAP Center Instagram, so make sure you follow us!” When she’s not at work, she enjoys reading, cooking and traveling. 

What are the CAP Center events coming up in the month of September? 

There are so many things happening every week, but some fun things coming up in September include:

• Our private showing of Pitch Perfect at the Campus Theatre is this Friday, 9/12, with free popcorn and soda. Doors open at 9 p.m. and the movie starts at 9:30.
• Football Tailgate on 9/13 at the stadium at 3:30 p.m. with free food and giveaways plus you can watch students attempt the “Kick of Destiny” at halftime to win prizes.
• Bring your family and friends out to the quad on 9/19 to enjoy “Finding Nemo” under the stars with free soda, candy and popcorn! Bring your own chair or blanket. The movie starts at 8 p.m.
• Christy’s A Cappella Concert: The annual concert featuring all of Bucknell’s a cappella groups on 9/20 in the Weis Center, starting at 1 p.m.
• Reptile Show: Students and families are invited to Uptown to see and hold live snakes, lizards, turtles and more on 9/20 from 8:30-11 p.m.!
• Fall Flower Bouquets: Create beautiful colorful arrangements from a huge selection of fresh cut fall flowers on 9/26 at Seventh Street Studio & Makerspace from 5-9 p.m.
• Come out for your chance to win cases of chips, boxes of easy mac, granola bars, candy, cereal and more at Uptown’s first Snack Bingo of the year on 9/26 from 8-11 p.m.!
• Bison Bowl-O-Rama: Enjoy a private night free of bowling at Lewisburg Lanes on 9/27 from 4-8 p.m. with pizza & snacks! There will be a shuttle going back and forth, leaving from Dent Drive.

Are there any CAP Center events further away (ie, Oct-Dec) that you are particularly looking forward to?

There are a few things we’ll hopefully be able to announce in the future but some things we’re looking forward to are:

• Country Fair & Pumpkin Painting on Friday Oct. 3 is always a fun night with the mechanical bull, ax throwing, the therapy goats and pumpkin carving/painting!
• Casino Night will be Friday, Oct. 17 in the Terrace Room from 7-10 p.m. with the most poker tables we’ve ever had!
• Fall Fest is going to be Saturday, Oct. 18 on Sojka Lawn with the carnival rides, student performances, balloon animals and some free treats!
• Festivus on Friday, Dec. 5 will have the snowglobe photo booth, hot chocolate bar and more to finish out the semester!

What is the process to plan a CAP Center event? What is your role? 

It depends on the type of event we are planning—every space and area is a little different. The large Friday night events, for example, are planned by the CORE student programming board. They meet once a week to plan and discuss feedback throughout the entire year and even some during the summer. Uptown events are often organized in conjunction with student organizations; sometimes they are ideas or requests from student feedback and other times they are events we do every semester that we slot in when we have an open night. Every event looks a little different depending on the logistics and groups involved. The concert, for instance, is a large undertaking because we have to coordinate with facilities, athletics, public safety, events management and our agent before we even get to booking the artist. The concert committee, similar to the lecture committee, plans, works and promotes the concert but they rely on student feedback to pick the actual artist, so make sure you vote in the polls Brent sends out! We also are trying to be even more flexible and responsive to what is happening and what students are interested in. For example, we have a special spin class the day Taylor Swift’s album comes out. I think we’re going to do a Dancing With the Stars watch party coming up since several students requested it after the cast announcement. We’ll probably do some fun stuff in February for the Olympics and things like that. We’re constantly in the planning cycle so that we can respond to students and what’s going on in the world. 

How are students involved in CAP Center event planning (if at all)? 

Students are critical in our event planning process and contribute in a variety of ways. For some things, there are committees and student groups planning them, for others like Seventh Street Studio & MakerSpace the student instructors pitch the classes and events they want to host based on their skills and interests. We also use feedback from a variety of surveys to either create new events or add more events that students are interested in. We know from feedback last year that students really loved Casino Night and wanted more of that, so this year there will be one in the fall and the spring. In the Uptown survey we heard a great response about student bands and snack bingo so there will definitely be plenty of those types of events this year. We always try to keep students at the center of our events and decisions so they are involved in a myriad of ways throughout the process across all of our programs. 

What is your favorite CAP Center event? 

Our favorite event collectively is Bison Sound because it brings together so many different students and parts of campus. There are student bands performing, a hands-on craft, free food and you get to see the Bucknell students come together which makes those events really exciting to be a part of.

What keeps you coming back to the CAP Center day after day? 

I think what keeps all of us coming back to this work and the office day after day is our interactions with students and seeing the impact we have on their lives. The hours can be tough and days can be really long and exhausting, but seeing students making memories or learning a new skill right in front of you is why we all got into this type of career in the first place, so that’s what keeps us going and what keeps us coming back.

Anything else you’d like to highlight about this semester’s CAP Center! 

Our office is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. on the ground floor of the ELC, so feel free to stop in and say hi, ask a question, eat lunch or get some coffee or tea from our Keurig station!

Is there a way for students to communicate with you that you prefer (ie, for feedback or event suggestions)? 

If you have any feedback or event requests/suggestions you can email any of us directly or [email protected], respond to Brent’s weekly email, DM us on Instagram @bucknellcapcenter or stop into our office on the ground floor of the ELC. As the MyVoice survey comes back out this fall, just know that we really do take the feedback that you share with us seriously!