On Catawba’s cambus, Friday nights mean one thing: Wigwam! Wigwam Productions is one of the organizations in Catawba College that hosts bingo night, movie night, arcade night, laser tags, customization events for cell phones and street signs. Wigwam also host professional entertainment events such as Stand Up Comedy, magic shows, and hypnosis. These are just some ideas the organization plan every semester. You may know these attributes about Wigwam Productions, but what about what happens behind the scenes?
The 2016-17 Wigwam staff consists of MacKenzie Rogers, Johnathon Collins, Zach Camerino, and myself. We are a student run organization with the guidance of our supervisor Jan Gillean. Every year, we gather recruits of all grade levels. This year, Alicia Carpenter, Luis Campos, Seth Pittman, and Ryan Patrick are our devoted members of the year so far. John Collins, a Junior Worship Arts major, is a 2-year veteran in Wigwam and participated in many of the events and never regrets anything. “Wigwam to me is unique because we have outside connections especially in professional industries and we have the honor to shake their hands and setup the stages for them,” says Collins.
Every week, copies of the poster of that event are printed out and placed throughout campus to promote the event. I send an email to every member to give details about the event, and plan the time to meet and setup in our Student Center Lounge. This past Friday was the customization of Cell Phone Stands with an added videogame station. We assembled at 5pm to organize the couches, setup our Wii-U console station, our printer, and our iron press.
All equipment comes from our Wigwam Productions closet that is between the game room and the elevator in the Student Center. The Cell Phone Stands event was set to start at 6pm-10pm, but people were already lined up ahead of time. As the event proceeded, we organized the boards and bases and peel the plastic off. Zach Camerino selects the designs on his laptop and prints them out on sheets of paper. Then the boards and bases are placed on their selected designs and pressed down by our iron press machine for a few minutes. Finally, voilà! The process is complete and people receive their phone stands and the process repeats over and over again until 10:00 PM.
So now you know some behind the scenes of Wigwam Productions. Depending on any event, they must unload stack of chairs, setup the stage, or even help the guests with their equipment and heavy lifting. Our newest member, Freshman Ryan Patrick, commented on his first day as a Wigwam member stating, “it is a good way to get involved at Catawba and have fun with your friends.” From the planning, the setup, and the production, we do it all with anticipation, integrity, and most importantly, fun.
Our goal as Wigwam Productions is to spread joy and entertainment to the campus. For anyone who is interested in joining Wigwam Productions, John explains “This is the best choice if you want to have entertaining Friday nights, meet new students and faculty, and meet professional entertainers, and gain connections.” Instead of being bored on Friday nights, students can go out and enjoy activities…. FOR FREE right in the heart of campus! Next Friday is the “Stuff a Critter” event so come out to the Student Center and stuff your favorite animal.
