Students for Environmental Concerns and Circular Fashion Expo promoted sustainable creativity through a sock monkey workshop at the Siebel Center for Design at 5 p.m. on Thursday.
Most materials, including a variety of buttons and colorful threads, used for the workshop were brought by attendees who shared and repurposed them into adorable creations. However, as the event took place in the Annex of the SCD, participants had additional access to the resources in the workshop.
While SECS and CFE previously cohosted events promoting the integration of fashion and sustainability, this was their first time with this project.
“What gave us the idea was mostly thinking of ways you can teach people to be sustainable with what they do,” said Molly Beadle, freshman in LAS and a member of SECS who helped to organize the event.
There was little monkeying around, as the workshop took slightly longer than two hours under fluorescent workshop lighting. Brooke Gansho, junior in LAS and Media and director of publicity and outreach for CFE, said that her favorite part of this event was “definitely becoming more patient and working through the struggle to get my cute end result.”
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
“Getting to socialize with everyone and seeing everyone who came out to the event was really nice,” Beadle said.
Approximately 20 members from both clubs showed up, with the vast majority attending for the entire event duration.
Both clubs emphasized their accessibility to members across campus.
“It’s been a very welcoming and open community,” said Yesenia Adrianzen, senior in LAS and diversity, equity and inclusion officer of SECS.
The club supports both large and small initiatives to promote student action sustainability across campus.
“Sustainability incorporates everything we do in our every life, everyday lives, different majors, everything,” Adrianzen said, emphasizing how this group is open to students of all interests and academic concentrations.
For instance, the events held range from apple picking, climate marches, trash pick-ups and gardening.
“SECS is like a way to connect that and voice those different concerns,” Adrianzen said.
Upcoming events for both SECS and CFE will be advertised on their social media pages.
