By Josh Wagner
The Queer Student Union (QSU) held a carabiner craft night event on Thursday, Feb. 20, in Whitaker Campus Center, bringing together students to design and learn the history of carabiners.
Carabiners have become a way for LGBTQ+ students to express who they are, said QSU president Ella Rosenberg, who created the event with the club’s vice president, Bella Bellucci. “There kind of is a whole identity to it,” Rosenberg, said.
About 15 students attended the event, which allowed them to customize carabiners with personalized materials such as colorful beads and charms. For many attendees, the night was also an opportunity to express themselves to other students.
The event was QSU’s first of the semester. In the past, the club held events weekly.
“We have faced substantial budget cuts and this semester we tried to have fun events and educational events, but this semester we have had to combine them so we came up with let’s learn about the history of keychains and carabiners and what they mean,” Rosenberg said.
“Once a semester, we hold a big event and this spring, we do our dry bingo event,” Bellucci said.
QSU and several other campus clubs have faced significant attendance issues in the past year.
“We have faced a lot of attendance issues across the majority of the clubs throughout the past year,” Bellucci said. “We are trying to get back that attendance and get students out which is the main priority.”
Bellucci said the club has held events in the past that were sparsely attended. Rosenberg and Bellucci are trying to come up with creative events to attract more attendees in the future, they said.
They noted that QSU provides opportunities for allowing LGBTQ+ students to express themselves and show their true identity.
“It plays a big role and this is kind of the only space where people can gather with each other,” Rosenberg said.
“We kind of had to take a leadership role,” Bellucci said. “These spaces exist, and even if you don’t like them, they are going to be there regardless.”
Bellucci noted the contributions student-led clubs provide to the Hood community. “It’s very much a necessity to have it at our school because it’s not something our school provides for us,” Bellucci said. “These are clubs and organizations that the students put together. We don’t get paid for this; it’s just passion.”
Students can follow Hood College QSU on Instagram. QSU posts all its events on its Instagram page and resources to its Linktree.
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