Multiple departments are joining forces to provide activities during spring break in an attempt to keep students in town and reduce the spread of COVID-19. There will be online and in person events in order to offer students a variety of options to make their week safe and fun.

“Campus Activities and other departments have partnered to bring a week of events to CWU students who stay in Ellensburg,” Nicole Klauss, the content and events marketing supervisor at CWU Hype, said.

Some of the on-campus events include Trivia Wednesday, Bingo night, Geek Out Game Out and Monday Movie Madness, specifically the movie “Her” starring Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson. 

“[COVID-19] is still a very real concern, so we’re hoping that students stay in town for what we’re calling a ‘Wildcat stay-cation,” Klauss said. “The CWU event calendar is a great resource, all the events are listed on there … that link is cwu.edu/calendar, or they can follow CWU Hype (@cwuhype on Instagram.)”

There are also some larger scale programs being offered during the week. The Global Primatology Conference will be held March 22 from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., and will feature experts on lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys and apes. Students can RSVP at www.eventcreate.com/e/primatologyconference. 

There is also a four day leadership online bootcamp from March 22 to 25 starting at 10 a.m. daily. 

“It’s just kind of based on the idea that leadership can influence, and any one can be a leader,” Klauss said. “If anyone is looking to boost their leadership skills, this is definitely a great option.”

Students can purchase discount tickets online through the CWU event calendar.

“Campus Activities and other campus partners are really working hard to make this spring break a fun week in Ellensburg,” Klauss said. She said there’s also plenty of fun to be had downtown, like the CWU Museum of Culture and Environment, Gallery One, Kittitas County Historical Museum and lots of great parks.

A scavenger hunt organized by the Diversity and Equity Center (DEC) is also a great opportunity for students to explore downtown. Katrina Whitney, the interim director and assistant director for the DEC, planned the event with program manager Justin Santoli and student employees.

Whitney said the goal of the scavenger hunt was to create an activity with a “game aspect.” From Monday through Friday of spring break, the DEC will post three clues per day on their social media (@CWUDiversity on Instagram). Students can go, by themselves or with friends they’ve been “podding” with, to take pictures of the answers to the clues. The pictures can be uploaded to a form the DEC will also be posting.

“Because our focus is diversity, inclusion, equity work and social justice work, it was important to us and valuable to us to really include those intentions with the clues,” Whitney said. 

The forms will be due the following Sunday. Whitney said the DEC will then “determine who rose to the top, and we will hopefully have a little bit of goodness for them… the following week.”

Both Klauss and Whitney encouraged students to stay in Ellensburg if they can.

“What a fun way to just, for a half a day or an hour of a day … just to take a walk around campus and find clues, or walk on campus for a little bit and walk downtown, and just explore the city and the city and campus in a different way where you’re not feeling like you’re just traveling right to a class,” Whitney said.