Kendall Hazel | Assistant News Co-Editor

Buena Vista University (BVU) first-year student Ciera Fergen started the first ever Love Your Melon Campus Crew in an attempt to channel a family tradition for a cause. The KBVU sponsored event “Melodies for Melons will be held on March 10 from 8 – 9:30 PM in the Centennial Room at BVU to kick-off the newfound organization.

In October of 2012, two students from St. Thomas University (MN) founded a non-profit, charitable organization known as Love Your Melon. The organization’s mission was to start an apparel brand in order to provide a hat for every single child battling cancer in America. Since their inception in 2012, Love Your Melon now has “campus crews” spanning over hundreds of college campuses and other educational institutions.

Fergen, a theatre major from Spirit Lake, serves as the “ambassador” for Love Your Melon here at BVU. This non-profit organization sells apparel like beanies, hats, and t-shirts, but Fergen explained the Love Your Melon mission in more detail:

“Buy one. Give one. Whenever somebody buys a hat, they give a hat to a child with cancer. The proceeds also go to cancer research and to the facilities where they treat the children,” Fergen said. “It’s all over the country. There are over 650 campus crews.”

Fergen was interested in Love Your Melon from the very beginning because her cousin was a member of the original campus crew at St. Thomas University.

“My cousin was on the first initial campus crew, so it is kind of a family thing. He would come home from college and tell us all about it. So then as the rest of my cousins started going to college, they joined their own campus crews. When I came here and there wasn’t a campus crew, I was like, ‘There should be a campus crew here,’” Fergen said.

Fergen held the first Love Your Melon meeting on Sunday February 21 to hopefully fill the twenty available spots for campus crew. She was impressed with the turnout.

“There was a lot of interest. We had over forty people sign up to become members. So, we actually had to do an application process,” Fergen explained. With the campus crew assembled, the next step is to get hats for children through the sale of apparel.

Love Your Melon encourages campus crews to advocate for the cause and for the sale of products. For each sale, a credit is earned. Once 750 credits are accumulated for BVU’s campus crew, the crews get the opportunity to do a “Superhero Adventure.”

Love Your Melon believes in the power of therapeutic techniques to help the children in their battles with cancer.

The Superhero Adventure allows a campus crew to go to a hospital, dress up in superhero costumes, and hand out hats to children battling cancer.

By next fall, Buena Vista University will be involved with the student-led campus crew.

“Next school year, we will have Buena Vista involved. So, hopefully that means when we hold events we will have some things that will be funded for, so it is not just coming from our crew’s pocket,” Fergen said.

Staff are looking to get involved too as Professor of Vocal Music Dr. Merrin Guice-Mendel wants to be the campus crew’s advisor for next year, according to Fergen.

Due to the high amount of interest from students on campus, Fergen’s vision for BVU went from just getting a crew started to something bigger.

“Initially, I just wanted the campus to have a crew, but now that it has sprung up and become this big thing here, I really just look toward seeing childhood cancer awareness becoming more known within the college and within the community. I hope to see a lot of volunteerism,” Fergen said.

Visit Love Your Melon or volunteer opportunities, contact Ciera Fergen, or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.