On Wednesday Feb. 5, the Student Association hosted the Spring Semester Club Day in the Student Union during free hour. Club Day is a chance for various clubs and organizations to share their goals and purpose with the Queens College community and to recruit potential new members. From front to back, the whole area was lined with stands for all 72 clubs and three organizations to represent themselves. At the entrance of the Student Union, one could see the groups of students trying to get into the elevator to get to the event. Popular music permeated the room, played by a disc jockey that the Student Association hired for the event. The DJ also provided music for the lively dance performances given by the QC Dance Team, the Caribbean Student Association, QC Fanaa, and Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.
Club Day allows new or current QC students to explore all of the opportunities that are available to them. At the event, clubs are always willing to introduce themselves in order to make connections among students. However, many students are still hesitant to commit to becoming a member of a club or organization– especially freshmen. Assimilating to the undergraduate life, freshmen tend to be full of trepidation when it comes to joining a club. They might not want to give as much commitment in order to balance the other aspects of college. However, Cayla Kempf, sophomore psychology major and secretary of GLASA (Gender, Love, and Sexuality Alliance), believes, “It’s always good to go out of your comfort zone.” As secretary of GLASA, she is responsible for promoting more club events and informing students about other clubs that may pique their interests. Even if you are not sure about joining a club, Club Day is a great way to meet others and to learn about the QC community.
Another club that was present was the Queens College Speech and Debate Society. This club allows students to hone their public speaking and debate skills by partaking in numerous tournaments across the United States. Their club stand was gleaming with the many awards they have received over the years, including the Sweepstakes Award from the Jack Lynch Debate Invitational and the 1stplace debate sweepstakes win from the 2019 NY-NJ State Championships. President of the Speech and Debate Society and junior political science major, Maim Hoque, agreed with the idea that this semester’s club day had a great turn out, stating, “It was good recruiting; I was not surprised by the number of clubs that showed up today.” Vice President of the QC Student Association and junior biology major, Siddharth Malviya, also agreed that the turn-out was great and mentioned, “I was really pleased with the turnout. It was emailed out to the entire campus on a weekly basis that Club Day was upcoming. I reached out to SEEK, Freshman Year Initiative, and other entities on campus. It was filled with so many students looking to get involved and I couldn’t have been more pleased.” The powerful student outreach is instrumental in a successful Club Day.
Malviya also shared how the planning of the event also was related to its success. “The planning for it started early January. I reached out to all the clubs and had them RSVP rather early. This was done so that we could change the game for how Club Day is laid out. Students always come to me and say that they appreciated the last Club Day, because there was a theme laid out and the clubs were organized by a category [e.g. cultural, Greek life, arts, etc.]. On the day of the event, we had signs printed out for all the clubs and allocated them a specific table.” This layout helped students find clubs that they otherwise might not have found.
Similar to this past fall’s Club Day, this semester’s Club Day was a success. Numerous clubs and organizations showed their presence among the large student body. Students enjoyed meeting the clubs and exploring the many opportunities available to get involved at Queens College.
