Week 6: What Do You Do At Crossroads?

Our first full week without staff has officially come to an end. We weren’t kidding when we said that our staff left us in a great place, surrounded by a great foundation and community. And they weren’t kidding when they told us that we were ready. Ready to take up this mission as our own, and in Crossroads, we’re ready to take on these projects as our own.

We would be fooling you if we said that this was going to be a piece of apple pie and that we won’t be facing hardships over the weeks to come. As deadlines approach, we are tested more and more each and every day. These projects test our limits both in skill, abilities and how we respond individually to stress, while working in this environment with 18 people.

In attempts to lower that stress and keep our lives organized, we have a user-friendly site called Trello that keeps our projects organized for us. All together, we have a total of 48 projects. The majority of those projects are focused around creating content for Cru’s largest regional conference, IndyCC. Held in Indianapolis Dec. 28-Jan. 1, the Crossroads team gets the opportunity to create numerous videos, graphics, print pieces, podcasts, website design, games and contests for campuses and composing social media material to promote IndyCC.

Loads of responsibility are placed upon the shoulders of our design and video teams. Head designer, Cassidy Anderson, a senior from The Ohio State University, finds herself challenged in the process of designing the look of IndyCC.

“I’m excited about the [IndyCC] projects! I find myself nervous looking at the deadlines and what has yet to be completed.” Anderson continues, “I’m learning a lot about the value of finding the correct balance of learning the design process and meeting deadlines.” Anderson also served on the Crossroads 2014 team.

Outside of our graphic design team, we have a solo computer science engineer who works on all the website and app designs. A senior at the University of Michigan, Joe Stockton gets to “do a lot of fun things and get really creative”, with what he does. When questioned about his progress on the projects, Stockton said that he was,

“A little bit frustrated with the websites, but the app is the most fun thing in my life.”

Be sure to stay tuned for the development of these two really helpful applications over the following weeks!Our other projects include working on the many other Cru ministries, outside of IndyCC.

These ministries include Bridges International, the Design Conference, Cru’s Big Break Conference, the Greek Conference, writing for the Summer Missions website, our Crossroads blog, any Chicago Summer Mission related items and creating multiple websites. Working with projects other than IndyCC provides a relieving break for designer Molly Radigan. A junior studying digital art and animation at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, Radigan has been challenged and tested through working on the Vision Conference for Bridges International.

“[Working on Vision] has definitely been a learning experience.” Radigan comments, “Being able to create designs gradually and then having to work really fast and diligently in large amounts in order to grasp what your clients really want has been challenging.”

Apart from the design and video team, the writing team gets the opportunity to weave in and out of all projects regarding both IndyCC and the other Cru ministries. Central Michigan University senior, Taylor DesOrmeau, works with the blog team and commented about what it is like to work with the other interns and clients.

“Working on Crossroads is great! Some of the people that I have had to work with have been challenging, but in a good way to move outside of my comfortable writing style.” DesOrmeau continues, “It’s been cool to be the middleman between our client and the students who will be experiencing these projects.”

DesOrmeau’s experience on Crossroads is a perfect example of what makes Crossroads a unique internship for college students.

Working for Cru on the Crossroads student internship is not always a walk in the park. We face challenges and hardships that test us.What helps is that our work environment is built upon the cornerstone that is Christ. Our foundation in Christ provide us with a unique outlook on where we fit in the work field, what our work is contributing to and who we are working for the benefit of. Crossroads is the perfect place to distinguish that.