Five Creative Campus interns returned last Saturday from the “Emerging Creatives Student Summit” conference put on by the Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities in Richmond, Virginia, to bring new ideas to the University of Alabama campus.

Creative Campus is a student-centered arts organization that serves as a voice for the cultural arts. There are currently 36 students in the UA chapter who are actively involved in making an effort to connect with faculty members and others within the Tuscaloosa community to take action and apply creative thinking.

“Being a Creative Campus intern opens up opportunities,” said Jessica Shieh, a sophomore majoring in marketing and international studies and Creative Campus intern. “Not only for a huge amount of self-directed personal and professional growth, but also for the chance to be proactive in brining something unique and culturally stimulating to our campus.”

Shieh said what makes the group so special to her is that each person is different and they add a fresh perspective to the group.

“A common misconception is that Creative Campus members have to be wildly and prodigiously artistic in the traditional sense, which isn’t true at all – we have a place for people for all interests and skill sets,” she said. “Individual project groups always need scientific and math-minded people to do research and development, work on budgeting and so on.”

Trent Carlson, a sophomore majoring in political science and journalism and Creative Campus intern, said the student interns work together to create art-centered projects.

“[We] try to connect student and community members to the arts culture that is present in and around [the University],” he said.

According the conference website, the event is designed to “bring together students from across the country who want to explore creative transdisciplinary collaboration as a means to help make the city of the future.”

“The focus of the conference was how to react to the rapid growth of cities throughout the country and how we can improve cities in all aspects of life,” Carlson said.

The students were given scenario after scenario and told to brainstorm solutions to the problem. At the end of the conference each group was to present a 10-minute presentation on their solutions.

Ben Tomlin, a senior majoring in public relations and a member of Creative Campus, said he appreciates the mark he will leave on the University.

“I feel like one thing a lot of the students here struggle with is once they are done with school they just move on and have nothing to show for it but a diploma,” he said. “The work we do is meant to stay here long after we are gone. I really like that we can leave our legacy.”

Applications to be a Creative Campus intern are now live and can be found online at creativecampus.ua.edu/internships. Applications are due March 2.