Samuel Casey
News Editor
In an update to Student Life and the Underground (UG), Sarah Toby was announced as the new program coordinator for Lowry Center and Student Activities, with her first day being Tuesday, Jan. 22. She previously held a position in Residence Life at Ashland University, but was interested in being involved with student activities. “When I was a student, I was on our campus activities board … so I always knew I wanted to [focus on] the student activities side,” Toby said. She added that she was drawn to the position at the College because it is important to have fun while working. “Getting the opportunity to supervise the UG, Common Grounds and some late-night programing was something that I was [excited] about,” she said.
While Toby has not been around long, she has a positive outlook of the College so far. “From my interview and from being here, it has a really nice feel to it. It isn’t a huge campus where … you might walk on campus and not see the same faces all the time,” she said. “Coming from Ashland which was similar in size, it will be a really easy transition with that atmosphere,” she said.
Toby makes it clear, however, that not all students who go to small schools are the same. “I’m excited to get to know what kind of students are here because College of Wooster students are very different from Ashland students.”
She also acknowledges that there will be several challenges, the biggest one being the learning curve of coming to a new program. “I have background in planning activities and doing programming, but I have to learn what is it like here at The College of Wooster. Learning what students at The College of Wooster like, what are they interested in and just figuring that out,” Toby said.
Knowing that there will be new experiences, Toby says she will frequently ask questions to find out what works now and what could possibly be improved. She adds, “It will be a lot of talking to the managers of Common Grounds and the UG and understanding what things they have been doing, what things they really love that are working well and what things they want to change.”
Anthony Cisneros ’19, a staff member at the UG, is looking forward to meeting Toby and has high hopes for the reopening after being closed this past semester due to the lack of staff required to oversee the facility. “I’m hoping she’s open to how things used to be but also open to how things can change,” Cisneros said. “Hopefully with this new opening we can have a rebranding of the space to make it [more popular].”
Kennedy McKain ’19, editor in chief of The Goliard, is also excited about the reopening of the UG because it has been the host of Covers in the past.
“The Goliard has hosted Covers back and forth between Douglass basement and the UG for years. We enjoy the performance atmosphere it gives musicians versus playing in just another basement,” McKain said. “We also appreciate the student crew and all of the help they lend to us with set-up, tear-down and clean-up,” she said.
McKain adds that The Goliard is planning on hosting Covers in the UG once it is open, but they are still considering the state of the space. She states that the equipment is not in the best of shape after years of use and that the atmosphere could be updated to be more inviting. “Ultimately it just needs to be a priority of the students as well as the Student Activities Office for these things to happen,” McKain advises.
Toby wants to remind students that she has an open-door policy and encourages anyone to stop by her office in the Student Activities office. “I love face to face conversations … and I am excited to build relationships with students and actually see them grow in their leadership positions,” she said. In terms of the UG, Toby does not have a specific timeline for the reopening but hopes to talk to student managers and others with the goal of opening up this semester. “I know students have been missing it and hopefully they are excited to see if things are going to change … and see how we can revive the UG and make it cool again,” she said.