For those begging reluctant roommates to play Call of Duty, looking to showcase their mastermind chess skills or searching for volunteer and extracurricular activities to add to transcripts, head over to Campus Club Day.
The chance to integrate yourself into the campus and find others who share your zeal for loved hobbies will be held 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 24 in the Friendship Plaza.
“It’s a great way (for students), especially freshmen, who want to be a part of our campus community, ” said Amy Collins, the student program adviser for the Office of Student Life.
Collins and club commissioner Cassandra Siegel, a student at City College and also a Video Game Club co-president, prepare club day.
The two do everything from putting up flyers around campus, to ordering tables, to informing club leaders to turning in their updated roster for the new semester.
Many clubs will provide fun, interactive ways to represent their platform during Club Day.
The I.D.E.A.S. Club, which stands for Improving Dreams, Equality, Access and Success, will be playing music while showing pictures of past events, said one of the club’s leaders, Nieves Antonio.
The Video Game Club will have an open Rock Band set for any passers-by who want to play, Siegel said.
But bedazzling their club tables with balloons and free pins isn’t all these clubs do over the semester.
The American Red Cross, Queer and Ally, Student Coalition, I.D.E.A.S., and Video Game Clubs all have various activities planned for spring to support their club’s cause and interests.
The Video Game Club members love action-packed gaming. They congregate in the Campus Center four days out of the week.
“If you are any kind of nerd, this is the club for you,” Siegel said.
The Cafeteria transforms into a gamer’s paradise for the Video Game Club’s premier event on April 17, called the Game Fest. It features a plethora of computers, TVs, and gaming consoles, including games such as Super Smash Brothers BRAWL and Halo, said Siegel.
The Student’s Coalition is also starting off strong. The club stands for alleviating human need across the world and spreading awareness on important issues, said Christy Needels, the club’s co-president.
The club’s main event this year is hosting the Pangea Day Festival on April 24, integrating people of all ages and from all paths of life.
“We are excited to get started on these projects,” Needels said. “We want to encourage people to get involved and have an active role in making a difference.”
This is I.D.E.A.S. Club’s first semester participating in Club Day. The members are primarily first generation Latino and Hispanic students, Antonio said.
This semester, I.D.E.A.S. will be organizing a fundraising dance for the student body. Their proceeds will become scholarships to help the club members “minimize the financial barrier so that all of them can achieve better education,” Antonio said.
Queer and Ally Club President Oliver Callos said that their club is “a place to network, and work on some activist work for marriage equality, and also do workshops on how to fight homophobia.”
“We just try to educate people,” he said.
The club networks with the non-profit Pacific Pride Foundation, and collaborate with the S.A.M.E. Organization, stated by club secretary and treasurer Maira Memmi. They also participate in local “No on Prop. 8” rallies.
“We basically want to gain school acceptance,” Memmi said. “You know, you can’t help who you are. You love who you love. It’s horrible that we have to be discriminated because of love.”
The group will continue practicing activism by communicating with those who misuse the word “gay.”
Despite a wide variety of existing clubs, students can always start their own, no matter how outlandish the idea or interest may be.
Even a Zombie Preparedness Club formed one semester, Collins said. The club organized emergency survival strategies to use if attacked by a mob of zombies.
Whether initiating a Glee or Hiking Club, clubs are a great way to engage in campus community involvement and have an enriching college experience.
