If you’re a new student trying to immerse yourself into the college experience and want to stay busy, or merely socialize with students who share common interests with you, join a campus club.

It’s neither too soon or too late. The semester has just begun, students are adjusting to their schedules and clubs are forming.

“Right now, there are only three active clubs,” said Student Program Advisor Amy Collins. “But I am trying to arrange Club Day the week of September 21.”

Although not finalized, the event is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 23. It will help draw attention to the campus clubs.

Collins expects plenty more clubs to steadily gather as the semester rolls on. However, there’s no particular reason to wait until Club Day, you can already join one of the three existing clubs or form your own.

The Poetry Club, Black Student Union and Video Game Club are all active and looking for more students to join.

Although they estimate to already have at least 200 student members, the Video Game Club welcomes new members with open arms.

“We’re a very open-door club, we don’t turn anyone down” said Mike Brannon, last year’s Video Game Club president.

The openness is apparent in the diversity of its members. “There are students from a variety of majors” current president Cassandra Siegel said. “Art, English, science, technology, it varies.”

Looking to add members to their own club, the Poetry Club has scheduled a “Poetry Kick-Off” on Oct. 3 which they are still planning and hope to host on campus.

At a Poetry Club meeting, you’ll be a part of a creative flow of ideas. Club president Martin sometimes asks members to write a poem on a particular color or you might be involved in a “Pass-on-Prose” where each member writes down a line of their own before the next member adds there own unique style the poem.

However, be sure to note that club life is not limited to attending weekly meetings. Clubs also do their best to share their particular interests with the rest of the campus.
The Video Game Club achieves this by hosting “Game Fest” every spring. At last years, they made 40 computers, and Xbox 360s and Nintendo Wiis available to those who attended.

“It’s the largest student-run event,” Siegel explained. She estimates at least 300 people showed up last spring.

Alternatively, The Poetry Club tries to host open mics at the Library and club mixers every semester.
“It (the mixer) is called ‘Poetry in Motion,'” Salter said. “We’ll usually have open mics, live music, DJ’s, food-usually a BBQ–and drinks. We’ve had one in Isla Vista and one on the Riviera.”

Best of all, students can start clubs on basically any topic of interest. The American Sign Language Club, Computer Science Club and Queer and Ally Club are just three of nearly forty clubs active last year. The most peculiar club Collins has seen is the Zombie Awareness Club, which was active in fall 2006.

Rather than simply going to class and doing homework, head over to the Office of Student life to meet other students. Only time will tell whether the person who was once another face passing by, will become a future friend.