Two new student groups at Point Loma Nazarene University come from different academic backgrounds but share the same desire: to increase creativity on campus.
Rent is Due, a brand produced by graphic design students, and the Innovation Club, an entrepreneurial group run by business students and faculty, are taking two distinct approaches to promote creativity among PLNU students.
Rent is Due was created by three second-year graphic design majors: Emily Ryan, Scotlynd Bruns and Violet Hentges. The brand began as a way to turn the skills they were learning in graphic design classes into a creative outlet outside of the academic setting. They produce all of their own designs, and plan to put them on products like T-shirts and posters in the near future.
“Profit would be nice,” Hentges said, “but the main goal is literally just to create.”
The trio said they want their work to be an inspirational catalyst for others who are not in the art world. They hope that their designs will inspire students from all disciplines on campus to express their unique style.
“As much as we want to get our creativity out there, we want other people’s out there, too,” Bruns said.
They see their product as a collaboration between their customers and themselves.
“Everything that we make becomes a new individual piece of art on each person who wears it,” Hentges said. “The way that people wear our artwork, it becomes their own as well.”
Leader of the Innovation club, Blake Togerson, a fourth-year business administration major, shares a similar sentiment: to bring creativity into business.
The Innovation club aims to teach students from various backgrounds how to think creatively in business. With the growing use of artificial intelligence in business, Torgerson said human creativity will become even more vital for success in the business world.
“Even if they don’t have an idea yet, learning the entrepreneurial mindset is how Loma students will differentiate themselves just from AI,” Togerson said.
The club fosters this entrepreneurial mindset by bringing in guest speakers, hosting networking events, holding workshops that practice real-world problem solving and providing students with a safe space to learn as they launch businesses. The club is already in the process of launching a financial, tech and clothing company, which is on its way to creating revenue in 2026.
“Learning creativity has more value than people realize,” Togerson said. “Unlocking individual creativity that isn’t algorithmic in nature but is pure and transformable is what will set people apart and help them avoid myopia.”
Randal Schober, PLNU professor of management and an entrepreneur, is one of the faculty members assisting the Innovation club. He summed up the collaboration simply: “Creativity is the core of all new ideas — it is the core, and then you have to innovate it.”
While the desire to bring creativity to campus from Rent is Due and the Innovation clubs stems from different places, they both grew from the desire to make creativity more accessible to PLNU students.
Kaelyn VanderSpek