Image courtesy of Student Organization Services.
Looking to meet new people and have a little fun? Joining a student club might be the thing to do. Yes, you’re busy, but what about making time to do something that you like or always wanted to try?
The College of St Scholastica writes,“clubs and organizations let students congregate around a common cause, interest or course of study at a time when social connections are crucial.” While you are meeting with like-minded participants, you are networking, and meeting people in person and dealing with challenges as a team.
Do you feel so short on time that you cannot justify enjoying yourself at a club? From TopUniversities.com, they list “putting it on your CV” as one of their favorite reasons for joining a club. A club allows you “to have real world responsibilities.”
Students are elected to roles within the organization, they have the opportunity to go to board meetings and interact with other members, discuss and determine how club money is best spent, and these become lines on resumes and answers to interview questions. The club setting is “where you can improve your experience and knowledge of valuable professional skills such as event planning and organization, market research, budgeting – all of which employers seriously value and can help set you up nicely for exciting positions later in life.”
Clubs on campus have different vibes. Some are very democratic and see what everyone wants to do. The Anime Club, which meets on campus, votes on which movies to watch. According to their club description, “We allow everyone to make suggestions of what animes they would like to watch and then … we vote for at least three different animes and if time allows it we can watch four. Sometimes we will watch one anime movie instead of three.” TNL spoke to Shantina Gillion, the club president, who said that they also have events throughout the semester. In the past they went bowling, and they have holiday get-togethers.
The accounting club is a little more formal. Their club site is all about getting their students into the workforce and is focused on networking and educating their members. Their first meeting was a business casual event on Sept. 23 at the Lakefront Hotel in Spenard.
No matter what your interest or major, or your need to get out and mingle with friends or to dive deeper into your subject and meet the pros, there is probably a club for you.
Don’t see one you like? Consider starting one and getting registered with UAA to make it official. Clubs can be an important part of student life at UAA. If you don’t want to take on all the responsibility yourself, get a group of friends together and create it. UAA has tried to make it easy.
On UAA’s club listings page, you can search through 168 club listings. https://uaa.campuslabs.com/engage/organizations Some clubs are inactive and just getting restarted after the pandemic though. Go to the engagement page to see events happening soon https://uaa.campuslabs.com/engage/ and for campus life, https://www.uaa.alaska.edu/students/engage/calendar.cshtml
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