Want to make the most of your college experience? Start a club and get involved in an organization that speaks to your interests, your passions, your academic pursuits, your identity, your goals for social change, and more!
But first, why should you start a club?
For one thing it’s fun! You’ll meet other like-minded people who want to hangout and do the same things you do at club. The main benefit of a club, though, is that more people means you can get even more accomplished, possibly in ways you had never thought of. As a club you will tap into the wide range of skills and talents of your members to do whatever your club’s pursuit is. For example, if you or members of your club love art, you could design posters, have an art showing, or something else along those lines. If a member has a way with words, he or she might write or speak for or to the club. Other club members might be good planners, researchers, or organizers. And the projects your club decides to take on will be successful because of the combined efforts, experiences, and creativity of your club’s members.
When I first came to Western I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do extracurricular wise, and then a few guys I met during my introduction to Western expressed their desire to create a League of Legends club on campus. As we talked I realized that this was something fun I wanted to do with like minded people, and that with more people we could do more than just talk; we could have massive discussions, host big tournaments and viewing parties and whatever else we wanted. As the result of these conversations I took the lead and looked up how to make the club in my head a reality and then carried it all out. When we first started the League of Vikings, Western Washington University’s League of Legends Club, we had no idea that we would grow to be one of the larger clubs on campus with over 100 people attending our events and over 500 people watching our social media posts. We just started a club that spoke to our interests and it became a passion we have since strived to share with others in the Western community.
Western Washington University has over 200 clubs on campus, but that doesn’t mean you can always find a club that matches your interests. So if you browse the club list and can’t find the club you are looking for, then you should really think about starting a new club. New clubs are constantly forming at Western and as a result the path to creating a club is well traveled and easy to follow. In fact, I’ll even help you out by going over the basics.
In this blog I will be going over:
- The path to becoming an official club
- Orgsync, Western Washington University’s club portal
- Club Recruitment events hosted by the Associated Students
- How to get money for your club
- Basic Hosting for Club Events