Since the last academic school year, 29 new clubs have either been confirmed or are still in the process of being admitted as full-fledged clubs on campus. This jump from 37 to 66 clubs on the First Hill campus is staggering, nearly doubling the number of club options for students.
With the Cornish merger, both the South Lake Union and First Hill campuses now have access to each other’s club rosters. The South Lake Union campus has 14 student clubs that are now available for students on both campuses and can be found through the ConnectSU portal.
Peter Vandeventer, the assistant director for Involvement at Seattle U, shared his thoughts on why there are so many new clubs sprouting around campus, and why they’re so successful.
“I’ve noticed [that] more of our clubs now, than what we’ve seen in the past, [are] centering around students’ hobbies and identities. I think that our students are realizing that clubs are a great place to create these tight-knit communities,” Vandeventer said.
All of the new clubs on campus have something unique to offer; here are a few to look forward to.
Redline Club
Revving up campus is Redline, an automotive club that had a car show Oct. 10. It was a huge success with a turnout of 150 students.
Redline is a women-founded group advocating for women’s representation in the automotive industry.
“We can’t wait to build our community and host more events in the near future. We want to host more car shows, invite guest speakers to campus, take field trips to local raceways, host workshops for students to learn automotive-related skills and more,” Club President Claire Bonte, a second-year marketing and business analytics double major, said.
Redline’s last car show was held at the Murphy Garage, where students could take part by meeting new people and looking at the showcased cars, either idling in rows or driving around the garage. The meet also included opportunities for attendees to learn how to change a car’s oil and about the history of cars.
Redline will continue to hold interest meetings for new or returning members to plan out the next car show or other events that come along the way.
“Being involved in different SU communities brought me my best friends and strong connections, so I want to give back to the students and give them a community where they feel welcomed and involved,” Bonte said.
Mongolian Students Association
The Mongolian Student Association (MSA) was founded by President Zaya Jargaltulga, a second-year business analytics and accounting. The MSA is an identity-based club created due to Jargaltulga’s desire to bring Mongolia’s rich culture to Seattle U, and unite the community of Mongolian students.
“They have awesome Mongolian culture dances, also cultural clothes, dancing shoes, dancing houses, all of them specific dancing culture things,” Zaya said, sharing about the things they want to highlight with the club.
Mongolian dances have many aspects that connect to the cultural and spiritual heart of Mongolian history. The Biye Biyelgee is a traditional dance that has been around Mongolian culture since the days of kings. It is symbolic of the traditional Mongolian nomadic way of life, and the movements reflect how life is lived, such as household chores and everyday customs.
This dance is an integral part of the culture, and Zaya wants to show Seattle U the rich array of Mongolian cultural traditions.
Pokémon Go Club
Finding Pikachu in Pigott and Squirtle in Sine, the Pokémon Go Club is evolving the student experience. President Ricardo Fransisco, a second-year accounting major, shared that his mission for the Pokémon Go Club is to get students who don’t know Seattle well to get out and explore by playing Pokémon Go.
Pokémon Go is a location-based mobile game where players can catch Pokémon by walking around. As an incentive to explore, there are Poké stops, which are geographical markers, along the way where you can collect useful items, as well as enter raid battles at gyms, locations where trainers from opposing teams battle for control and face powerful Pokémon with community members.
The club will be exploring a variety of locations around the greater Seattle area, including Capitol Hill, Bellevue and Green Lake, to see what these locations have to offer not only in the game, but in real life.
“I was forced to explore Seattle through Pokémon Go, because I wanted to find other communities that had a strong Pokémon Go community, like Green Lake. So I hauled all the way out to Green Lake, and I was like ‘Oh, this is a sweet spot,” Fransisco said.
The club’s next meeting will be Nov. 1 at Green Lake for Gigantamax Garbodor Day. You can find more information on their Instagram @su.pokemongoclub.
Craft Club
Fabricating friendship and painting pumpkins is Craft Club. The club utilizes the Billodue Makerspace and allows students to use resources like painting supplies, sewing machines and welders to create crafts of their choice. With training from Makerspace professionals and Craft Club leaders, students can use advanced machinery for their projects.
“As school progressed and I started working more, it became harder to find time to attend meetings. I want to do as much as I can in my final year, which is why I am determined to make Craft Club as successful as possible…Personally, I always loved the idea of a casual, relaxing, engaging club involving art or something hands-on, hence our idea of Craft Club,” Fourth-Year Nursing Student and Club Co-President Grace Hogge said.
The club meets in the Makerspace every Monday from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Stitching up a storm, Katherine Ouano, a third-year diagnostic ultrasound major, wanted to create a hobby-centered club to expand her knowledge of the fiber arts. This form of art includes crocheting, knitting and embroidering, all of which use yarn and other fiber-based materials.
“Our club is all about learning new fiber arts and connecting with people who are interested in them. I only really know how to crochet, but I really wanted to learn other fiber arts such as knitting,” Ouano said.
Just like Crafts Club, Fiber Arts Club aims to create a welcoming environment for students to learn and appreciate new activities, and to meet other students who are also interested in the fiber arts. They encourage members to bring their own materials, but materials are provided if needed.
The club meets in Pigott 108 every Tuesday from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
These clubs make up only a fraction of the groups students can join. With so many on both the First Hill and South Lake Union campuses, there is bound to be a club that fits every student’s interests or connects to their identity. More options can be found on ConnectSU.
