By Raena Doty
Asst. Arts & Features Editor
Wednesday night, the Christian Fellowship sat down with members of the FSU community to relax over painting and music and spend time with friends in the Alumni Room Feb. 15.
The organization - devoted to creating a space for Christian students - set up tables with paint, small canvases, wooden hearts, and other items anyone could paint.
Students of FSU came for all different reasons, whether it was interest in the Christian Fellowship itself, support for the club, or just as a way to unwind.
Emma Vogler, a junior early childhood education major, said, “I went to their pumpkin painting they did last semester so I’m very excited because I like painting. It’s calming, especially getting into the mid semester with everything. It’s a nice relaxing break.”
She said her favorite part of the night was “the music. And I was able to bring a lot of my friends, too.”
Students came up with all different subjects of painting. Vogler painted a “strawberry cow” in shades of pink and red on a heart-shaped canvas, and said, “I love my cows.”
Isabella Medeira, a freshman English major, painted half of her canvas with blue hearts and on the other side she wrote her “favorite Korean pop band’s name in Korean and then in English.”
She said her favorite part of the night was being with her friends.
Tiara Silba, a freshman political science major, and Emily Ling, a freshman accounting major, came together as friends. They chose to paint each other on canvases, and Silba also chose to paint “this little tree stump, because I love trees and nature.”
Ling said she came because of her interest in the Christian Fellowship, while Silba came to support and spend time with Ling.
Katie Hansson, a junior elementary education major and the community outreach coordinator for the Christian Fellowship, said, “We call the paint night more of an event than a meeting because for this one, it’s more of a fun thing that can draw in new members or just meet new people that we haven’t had the opportunity to meet in a smaller group setting.”
She added the Christian Fellowship also does a lot of work outside the FSU community.
“In November, before it was too close to Christmas, we did Operation Christmas Child. So we had to collaborate with that organization, and then that was when we did the gift boxes for kids across the sea that wouldn’t have gotten Christmas gifts,” she said.
Hansson said she hopes this event will make students more aware of the Christian Fellowship’s presence on campus.
Ben Diehl, the treasurer of the Christian Fellowship and a junior computer science major, agreed.
“I hope we spread awareness about us being on campus. I feel like not a lot of people know about the Christian Fellowship group and that’s kind of a trend with a lot of clubs right now, especially post-pandemic,” he said.
“And I hope people will get a little bit of fun - a little bit of relaxation. It was Valentine’s Day yesterday so we got some heart-shaped painting stuff. I hope people have fun. That’s really most of what we do,” he added.
“I’d like [people] to know that we’re on campus and we’re welcoming. We’re really just people hanging out and sometimes we talk about God, sometimes we host fun activities,” Diehl said.