Your Interests Matter

On Wednesday, September 13th the University of Connecticut held its biannual campus-wide involvement fair. There are over 600 different student organizations around campus. Freshmen and Seniors alike wander up and down Fairfield way among all the colorful tables looking for ways to get involved on campus. The whole experience can be overwhelming with so many options to choose from. Many students walk away signed up for dozens of email lists that they will unsubscribe to. Yet there are a select few students who walk away from the involvement fair not finding what they were looking for. You might notice that there is a College Republicans club but not a College Democrats club. Maybe you are passionate about comic books and wish there was a club on campus for that.

Almost all the clubs on campus started with a group of students with a shared interest. A lot of students have a desire to start a club but do not know how to go about it. During this years involvement fair I overheard two freshmen students mentioning that there were no clubs that fit their interests. It was such a shame to hear that. This is why I wanted to get this information out to as many students as possible. If you are thinking seriously about starting a club I recommend visiting UConn’s Student Organization Support page or attending one of their workshops.

Your interests matter regardless of what they are. If you and a few of your friends are really passionate about whistling then start a whistling club. There are not many requirements to meet in order to be able to start a club that does not already exist. You need to be a full-time student (either undergraduate or graduate) with good academic standing. If both of those facts are true for you then you are all set to start the club. Get your friends to join the club with you. Even if they are not UConn students they can join as long as a majority of the members are students.

Now that you have potential members and are able to create a club you need to decide what tier your club is going to be. Your club has the potential to get funding from the university depending on what tier it is. If any of this interests you I highly encourage you to look more into it at solid.uconn.edu. The purpose of this post was not to give you all the information you need to start a club but to expose you to the concept.

Getting involved on campus is extremely important. I know of some students who do not participate in campus activities because they believe there is nothing for them. That simply cannot be true with all the organizations that exist on campus and the ability to create a whole new organization. As a fellow college student I understand that we are busy people but getting involved on campus will only enrich our education. When we graduate we need to be equipped with skills other than writing a paper or taking an exam. It might not seem like it at first but our time in college is finite. The most common regret students have when they graduate is not getting more involved on campus. Do not let that be you. Whether you join or create; get involved. Your interests matter.