I was drawn to F&M not only by its academic reputation, but also by its welcoming community. Before I even enrolled, I was so excited to see the wide variety of clubs that the school had to offer. In the spring semester of my first year, after having some trouble maintaining new-found friendships, I joined some clubs. There, I hoped to find an accepting community, filled with people with the same interests as me, and that’s exactly what I found. Becoming involved in clubs was one of the best decisions I ever made in college.
Now, two years later, I am involved in three wonderful clubs, with a leadership position in each of them. As the president of the Environmental Action Alliance, I help to plan events, advertise, and create a safe space for all members to come together and bond over their common interests. This semester, though, things feel very different. I spent a lot of time carefully planning a variety of fun events for people to enjoy after a long day of classes, only for every one of my plans to fall through.
When no one showed up to my club’s introductory meeting, I wasn’t concerned. I attributed the lack of attendance to the -10º wind chill and decided to try again a week later. So I did, and once again, no one showed up. Finally, midterms week rolled around, and still no one had showed up to a club meeting other than the members of the executive board. By that point, I felt that there was no use wasting my time planning activities only for no one to come, and I was left with no choice other than to cancel club meetings for the rest of the semester.
This experience is not unique to my club. Both of the other clubs that I am involved in are having similar attendance issues, and I have heard the same complaints from other club leaders. Not only is it extremely frustrating to club leaders to have no one show up to share experiences that we worked so hard to create, but I believe that it is detrimental to the well-being of our campus community.
Clubs are a great way to meet new people. As someone who has had a hard time making friends throughout my life, I was worried about finding my place in college, but I was able to find it through clubs. They are also great communities for students to express themselves. We have a huge variety of clubs on campus, so there really is something for everyone. By joining clubs focused on interests that you are passionate about, you are free to be yourself and meet others with your same interests and values. Clubs also provide students with something to do as a break from the weekly rut of classes, homework, and exams. It is important for us college students to prioritize our mental health, and a great way to do this is by taking some time away from schoolwork to surround ourselves with people and immerse ourselves in activities that bring us joy.
Other ways to get involved on campus, including sports, Greek life, theater, and music, are valuable as well, but they are not for everyone. Not everyone is passionate or talented in athletics or music, the party culture of sports teams and Greek life may be unappealing to many people, and the structured schedules and time commitments of all of these may be stressful. All of these are reasons why I am involved in clubs rather than other extracurriculars, and I think many others feel the same way. With clubs, everyone can find something that works well with both their interests and their schedule.
I don’t know exactly what is causing the extremely low club engagement this semester, but whatever it is, the problem should be addressed as soon as possible. One reason might be that the addition of new fraternities is causing a culture shift more oriented towards Greek life, but I believe that the main reason is the lack of clear communication. With the ban on students sending campus-wide emails, club leaders have a difficult time spreading the word about their organizations as now they can’t advertise their club meetings and events in a clear manner. Before this semester, students could check their email, just as they already do every day to stay up-to-date on schoolwork, and find out what clubs were happening and when. Now, we have to go out of our way to check Ampersand and scroll through hundreds of events to find one that interests us. I don’t know of a single person who actually checks Ampersand because of how inconvenient it is, and even without students sending school-wide emails, my inbox is just as full as it was last semester. We must figure out a better way to advertise clubs before the community that drew me to this school in the first place falls apart.
Junior Carrie Teti is the Arts and Leisure Editor. Her email is cteti@fandm.edu.