Five new clubs connect students
Student success is an equation with many factors: studying, networking and participation, to name a few.
For many students, that success only comes when connections are made with teachers and fellow students— like in a club.
Extracurricular activities, such as participating in a club, can have several positive effects on students. According to Erin Massoni, of College of DuPage in Illinois, extracurricular activities can improve a student’s self-esteem, grades, attitude, social status and connection to their campus and community.
The “higher grades and positive attitudes towards school is the second effect that extracurricular activities have on students,” Massoni wrote. That positive attitude adjustment is important because, according to Massoni, a positive self esteem helps predict academic performance.
To help students access some of those benefits, UCC now offers five new official student clubs: drama, nursing, science and technology, veterans and environmental. These new clubs are looking for members.
Science and Technology Club
The Science and Technology Club was created with the initial intent of promoting and developing knowledge from all science disciplines.
“We already did a total of three projects since we started the club,” Jorge Nader, Science and Technology club president, said. “One was experiments related to solid CO2 and gas pressure related demonstrations; also we are trying to isolate some organic compound with the help of the Chemistry professor Sean Breslin. In our future projects we will try to build a Gauss rifle and other electronic related artifacts.”
Engineering and science competitions are being planned for the future, but they are still in discussion.
The Science and Technology Club meets Fridays in the science lab at 3:30 p.m., though the time or date may change in the near future.
Drama Club
The Drama Club is open to everyone with an interest in theatre, not just acting students. The club, currently with about seven members, meets every Tuesday at 12:15 p.m. in Centerstage for half an hour. They mostly focus on fundraising during these meetings and even afterwards.
The primary goal of the Drama Club is to provide opportunities for students with an interest in Theatre Arts to connect with professional theatre shows in Oregon. “Many students here at UCC can barely afford their books, much less tickets and gas to go see some of the amazing work being done only a couple of hours away,” Amanda McNulty, Drama Club president, said.
The club hopes to raise enough money to take their very first trip to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland sometime during next term. “All of the club members are going to be looking at the OSF season and find a couple shows they would like to see so that we can discuss the options as a group and vote on what we’d like to see,” McNulty said.
The club has received donations from the community already: the Roseburg Donut & Bagel Factory will be supplying them with donuts to sell at concessions during Centerstage events.
The Theatre Arts Department is sparking an interest in theatre among more and more students. “As the department and the club continues to grow, I’d eventually like to see the Drama Club hosting improv shows and student organized productions,” McNulty said.
Student Nursing Assoc. Club
The Student Nursing Association currently has eleven members, all first year nursing students, though interest has been shown from second year students, students in the Licensed Practical Nurse program and pre-nursing students.
“Since we’re just getting started, we’ve been working on establishing what we want to accomplish as a club,” Alexandria Rogers, public relations representative for the SNA, said. “We’ve been tossing around ideas such as helping pre-nursing students with things like applying for the program.”
The SNA has not quite worked out all of the bugs yet, as they are still a new organization. They have, however, been looking into applying for grants to provide funding.
“We’re hoping to have a social in the near future for all pre-nursing, LPN, and 1st and 2nd year nursing students. We haven’t established a time or place yet, but once we do, we will be sure to get that information out there,” Rogers said. “We’re currently in the process of making a Facebook page to help spread the word about what’s going on within our club so be looking for that as well!”
They meet bimonthly on Fridays in WHC 10 at noon. A sign is posted on the door if any room changes are made. Their next meeting will be March 7.
For more information on the SNA, contact them at uccsna@gmail.com, or alexandria.rogers11@gmail.com.
Environmental Club
The Environmental Sustainability Club only has four members, but they have support from faculty, staff, and workers at the Woolly Center.
The group is considering many projects, but the main focus is on a grant for a rain collection system and implementing a composting system on campus to reduce or reuse food waste to fertilize the campus garden.
“We are hoping to get some funding through ASUCC in order to get these projects off the ground,” Shane Rinehart, Environmental Club president, said. “One other thing is we are going to need man power to help us in the garden during planting and watering season.”
They meet every Wednesday in Snyder Hall 15 at 2:00 p.m., and their meetings typically last 45 minutes.
Clubs in the Works
Three additional clubs are still in the formation process. A manga drawing club (Manga is a Japanese comic book style of art), a chess club and a Minecraft club are still in progress.
These three clubs are still finishing their required petitions to student government so they can fully form. Students can still sign up for Manga, Chess or Minecraft clubs in the Campus Center student government offices.
The interest in new clubs increased after the ASUCC sponsored a club fair in Campus Center this term.
If any student wants to start his or her own club, a club petition form turned into Marjan Coester, director of Student Life. Forms can be found in the Campus Center or online at umpqua.edu/clubs-organizations. The petition contains the rules and requirements for starting a club.
The main requirements for starting a club are having at least three or four members, sending one member to ASUCC board meetings every Monday, reading and completing a constitution and bylaws and identifying a faculty or staff club advisor.
Any club may apply for a grant if they are planning a specific project. The application will be presented at the next board meeting, and ASUCC will approve or deny the request.
For more information on clubs, contact Susie Day, ASUCC public relations officer, at asuccpublicrelations@umpqua.edu or go to her office in the Campus Center.