Intercrew Council Aims to Boost Communication, Collaboration Among Work Crews
Ryleigh Johnson | April 29, 2025
If you made your way down to Warren Wilson College’s (WWC) composting hub on April 17, you might be surprised at the group of students hunkered inside the Community Oriented Regeneration Efforts (CORE) warehouse, passionately discussing the potential of WWC’s work crews. This assembly marked the second Student Intercrew Council Meeting, designed by Cecilia Moushey, a junior at WWC, as a place where on-campus crews can better connect, share resources and communicate with the administration.
Moushey, who works on the Propagation Sub-Crew of the Ecological Landscaping Crew, saw the need for increased connection after a large joint meeting between the WWC land management crews. There, students expressed a desire for more inter-crew collaboration.
“We all were really like...this land is connected, we don't need to treat it quite so much as these separate sections,” Moushey said. “Obviously, we all have our own little roles. But we should be able to skill share more and talk about our land management in a more holistic way…I think if that was expressed from essentially 90% of the land crews, then something isn't clicking.”
Moushey also recognized a need for crews to be able to share resources more efficiently between groups.
“A lot of resource sharing on this campus happens out of chance; students happen to talk to each other at the right moment in the right space,” Moushey said. “An example for me was…last semester, I was pruning back some river cane. I reached out really quickly…to someone I knew on Fiber Arts [Crew], and I was like, ‘Hey, we have so much river cane. Would you guys be interested in using it?’ And they immediately were like, ‘Yes!’ That is just one example of how I think we can create closed-loop circles on this campus.”
Erica Ostling, a freshman who works on the Cowpie Café Crew, came to the council meeting because of her previous involvement in discussions surrounding improving the work program.
“I was in the process of the Strategic Action Plan restructuring and that was really interesting to listen to everyone's thoughts and watch that happen,” Ostling said. “I wanted to get more involved in the work program and advocate for student workers because I think that's super cool.”
Grey Hudak, a freshman who works on the Ecological Landscaping Crew, learned about the meeting from posters they saw on campus. They hope that the council can help crews to communicate better with one another and act as a unified body in interactions with WWC’s administration.
“What we want from administration [is] increased transparency, particularly about budget stuff for the crews,” Hudak said. “It's our tuition money. We should be able to know where it goes, instead of just being told we don't have the money to have a supervisor for your crew, so you don't get to exist anymore.”
Moushey has been heartened by the student turnout at council meetings thus far, the second of which counted in attendance students from seven crews and one sub-crew. They hope that eventually the council will have a representative from every crew on campus.
Moushey is also confident that the advocacy students are doing via the council will help better prepare students for the workforce. However, they are quick to point out that their desire is for the council to be a manifestation of what students want, and not just what they as an individual may want.
“It doesn't have to be completely my vision,” Moushey said. “I think ultimately what I want is just to cultivate a central space, where students can express needs and hopefully get them met as soon as possible by other students.”
The Student Intercrew Council meets from 7-8 p.m. on Thursdays at the CORE Warehouse. Those interested in more information can visit their homepage.