There are a variety of opportunities for involvement, service, and leadership for students at CVA. Student activities and clubs support the academic mission of the college by working to create experiential learning options outside of the classroom and encouraging students to actively participate in the greater educational community.
On the first Friday of the fall semester, Student Life and CVA Student Council host the annual CVA Welcome Picnic. Students, faculty, and staff enjoy piñata breaking, rootbeer float drinking, and bubble blowing at this annual event which welcomes new students to the CVA community.
It has become an annual event for CVA students to go to a farm for some good old fresh air at harvest time! Students enjoy an October afternoon at a local apple orchard or corn maze. Hay rides, popcorn, and hot apple cider make for a refreshing afternoon with plenty of opportunities for great photography.
CVA's annual Halloween Party has become a must do for the community. Students create the spooktacular setting in the Summit Mansion the week before Halloween, for a week full of ghostly apparitions and sightings. Festivities begin at dusk with treats for the neighborhood goblins.
During the winter holidays many families go without. The CVA Student Council and the Office for Student Life lead the way in helping others in our community through an annual food drive. The last two years donations were made to the Hallie Q Brown Center, here in Saint Paul.
The Great Print Exchange is a biennial event bringing the CVA community together for a print exchange, a chili cook-off, and a t-shirt design contest. There is also a raffle of items donated by students, faculty, staff and the local business community.
This fun event is open to all students who want to drop in and make valentines from materials supplied by the print area. Printmaking methods as well as non-printmaking techniques can be incorporated... so everyone is welcome to come and make cards. If they wish, students can donate cards to be distributed by the Student Council to a nursing home or children's hospital.
What is spring without a dance? Each spring the CVA Student Council hosts a themed dance. Space Monsters, the 1940's, and the 1980's are some of the recent themes. This end of the academic year event brings together students from all disciplines to celebrate another successful school year and the beginning of summer.