SEU Pride held a craft night Nov. 16 to give queer students a space to relax before the chaos of finals set in. 

There were a variety of craft options, including friendship bracelets, watercolors and other mediums for drawing. Students were also encouraged to bring any crafts they wanted to do. 

It is a busy time of the semester, and it is important to Pride leadership that students know they have not only a physical place to go to relieve stress, but also a reliable community to support them. 

“I think it’s important to have these types of meetings so queer kids have a safe space to just be in general when it comes to school,” senior Penelope Escamilla said. “Especially right now since finals are coming up, and sometimes we just need a place to just relax. What better place than somewhere where you can find your next best friend or talk to people more easily knowing that you’re in a place where you’ll be accepted?”

SEU Pride’s goal is to give students the opportunity to meet other people with whom they may share experiences with so that they can grow a larger circle of friends. 

The St. Edward’s University LGBTQ outreach has played a significant role in this year’s event planning. Pride leadership made a point this year to include events that feel more like hanging out with a group of friends.

“The sort of laid-back social element of pride has been probably my favorite part since I’ve been in pride all four years that I’ve been at St. Edward’s,” senior Emily Nichols said. “When I came into leadership, I really wanted to continue to have those community building meetings to just hang out and do some fun stuff together and meet other queer people on campus. Especially around finals, I find that I get really stressed out when I’m just in my room all the time locked away. So, having these kinds of events are a really good refresher and just calms your brain a little bit when things are crazy.”

The biggest goal of the Pride club is to provide queer students with the things they need to make their college experience the best it can be. Part of doing this is not only providing programming that makes queer students feel comfortable and accepted, but helping them to manage the difficulties that come with being a college student. 

According to the club, there have been great turnouts at this semester’s events and lots of new faces among the crowd: not only returning students but many freshmen as well. 

“I think going to any club events here at St. Edward’s is really nice to get to talk to different people every day,” Escamilla said. “I’m really glad that our freshman population has grown because we get to meet even more people. I’ve seen a lot of new faces during our Pride meetings, and that’s great that we’re getting a lot of new backgrounds here, a lot of new stories to tell and people that can find each other.”

SEU Pride wants to encourage students of all kinds to join in on events. Regardless of if students identify as LGBTQ, SEU Pride wants students to feel like they have somewhere safe and relaxing to go.