As part of the Chestnut Hill College Activities Team’s (CHAT) ‘5 Days of Awesome,’ the College welcomed Brian Getz, renowned balloon artist, to campus to build a massive — almost 10-foot-tall — sculpture of CHC’s beloved mascot, the Griffin.

Meg Cranney, assistant director of student activities, first heard of Getz and his unique talent while at the Association for Promotion of Campus Activities (APCA) Conference last year.

“I met him and he was showing off his work,” Cranney says. “All of the students at the conference were so interested and his work was amazing. I thought it would be a fun event to bring to CHC, to have him build this larger-than-life Griffin.”

Getz arrived on campus early on April 15 and quickly got to work on his masterpiece, which was built right in the corner of the McCaffery Lounge.

“It was great having him build it right there because there is always so much foot traffic,” Cranney says. “People were walking by and admiring it. Everybody just kind of stopped in and loaned a hand, too, which was great.”

In all, the sculpture took Getz and his 15 volunteers, many of them from CHAT and the Student Activities Office (SAO), seven hours to build. By the time it was finished, at close to 5 p.m., everyone was in awe of the finished product.

“In the beginning of the day it was just us surrounded by tons of little balloons,” Cranney says. “But by the end, it was amazing. It was so interesting and unlike anything we had ever seen before.”