Mustang Activities and Programming is an organization that plans a majority of the events on campus, including large-scale events like carnivals and dances, along with small-scale events like comedians and karaoke nights on Stevenson University’s campus.
MAP is active in campus life and sets up promotion stations on the first floor of the Rockland dining hall, on Fridays before their general member meetings. The current members of this year’s board are President Keyara Blackmon; Maya Murphy, vice president of social media marketing; Amirah Russell, president of membership; and Morgan Mohoney, treasurer. Program directors include Nicole Wenzel, Joey Byrd, Jessica Lewis, Yina Dong, and Krystal Alexis. MAP’s advisor is Jenna D’Onza, the assistant director of student activities.
The new 2018-19 executive board next year has made a few changes due to members graduating. Murphy said, “Every year the executive board opens for new members. This enables everyone in MAP to have a chance to be on the board. This year we have three seniors graduating, so those spots were open to fill as well. Any student can apply for the Programmer Positions, Treasurer, or Vice President of Membership. Then, once you are on the board for a year you have the opportunity to apply for the President position.”
Byrd is the new president of the organization. Mahoney will stay as treasurer and Wenzel, Lewis, Dong, and Alexis will remain program directors. MAP will add two new members to their roster with the addition of Briana McCray as a new program director and Alyssa Maher as the new vice president of membership.
Maher is a sophomore business communication major who said, “Joining MAP really allowed me to feel at home and meet a lot of new people. The different activities we plan on campus really caught my attention and the fact that we get to do different things and meet a lot of cool performers that most college student don’t get to.”
As the new vice president of membership, Maher’s job entails planning different socials, organizing the end-of-the-year banquet, develop ice breakers for member meetings, recruiting new members, and making sure all members feel recognized and valuable.
A few examples of some of the events that MAP is responsible for are the foam party that was held on April 28 in the apartment quad. The event allowed students to let loose one more time before finals week began. The group’s most recent event was the food truck rally held on April 30, which provided students with a wide variety of tasty treats to help ease them into the week prior to exams. Events that MAP holds annually include, Friday Night Fever, Wet and Wild Field Day, Fall Carnival, and Rockland Blowout.
McCray is a freshman business administration major who is looking to make an immediate impact on MAP. “I think I bring a lot of energy and a different perspective to MAP. I’m very upbeat and high energy, and I love getting people involved. I am also friends with a lot of different people from athletes to bookworms, so I can help get more people to come out to map events,” she said. This upbeat energy and new perspective will help MAP as they look to continue to plan fun new events for the Stevenson community. McCray will be at the forefront of that, because as a programmer she will be directing several events on campus, organizing them from contacting companies to setting up the venue and more.
Maher said that one of the most important parts of being on the executive board of any club is to make sure members feel valued and important, and to make sure that they know their voices are heard whether it be ideas, questions, or concerns.
News editor Maya Murphy contributed to this article.
