Attendees creating SXU-inspired t-shirts at the Design and Shine event in the Alumni room on Nov. 4 The Xavierite
On Tuesday, Nov. 4, the Saint Xavier University (SXU) Student Activities Board (SAB) hosted an event called “Design and Shine” in the Alumni room in the Shannon Center, in which attendees designed custom SXU-inspired t-shirts before the women’s volleyball team’s Senior Night game against Mount Mary University.
The event began at 5:30, and featured plain black t-shirts, as well as various stickers and iron-on decals that those who were at Design and Shine could press onto the shirts in a customized fashion.
“I wanted to try to bridge the gap between athletics and regular students,” said Kennedy Adams, SXU Community Engagement Coordinator and faculty advisor for SAB, later noting how some athletic students have adopted the nickname “NARP” (non-athletic regular person) for students not involved in athletic activities. “I hated that!” Adams explained.
SAB President Michelle Coronado, another main organizer of the event, explains her process of orchestrating Design and Shine: “I put together the list of supplies because I love DIYs and making creative things. I’ve made my own cute and simple SXU shirts using custom patches, so I wanted to bring that idea to this event because students love custom SXU merch.”
According to Coronado, the idea for the event was a combination of her’s and Adams’: “I wanted to host a custom t-shirt event, and Kennedy suggested we connect it with athletics since athletes don’t usually attend many events.”
Coronado and Adams worked alongside women’s volleyball Assistant Coach Anne Kuziela to coordinate the event. Members of SAB recruited students involved in athletic programs. Students both involved and not involved in athletics attended Design and Shine and made custom SXU shirts.
“I’m just making a t-shirt,” SXU student and Design and Shine attendee Javiyah Israel said at the event while putting iron-on patches on her shirt. “It’s actually for a friend–she couldn’t come because she had some work to get done, so I was like, I’ll make one for her.”
Emily Hovanes, junior at SXU, and the group she attended Design and Shine with were in the dance studio when SAB members came in and invited them to the event.
Jake Carrier, freshman at SXU, also attended the event with his friends, which he heard about via word-of-mouth
The event ended at 7:00, at the same time the Senior Night women’s volleyball game against Mount Mary University began–a game that concluded with a 3-0 SXU win.