Returning students may have noticed school clubs were quiet for the first half of the semester, and new students may have started to wonder if there were any active clubs. However, CBU recently had its Club Rush event, with a total of 61 clubs in attendance offering information and sign-ups at booths in Stamps Courtyard. Clubs are officially back and going strong, and many of those clubs relate to business, science and technology, and encourage diversity in their fields.
Clubs such as the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), the National Organization of Minority Architects student chapters (NOMA) and the STEM Girls Club give a support system to people who can often go overlooked in their chosen profession.
“NOMA, which thrives only when voluntary members contribute their time and resources, has as its mission the building of a strong national organization, strong chapters and strong members for the purpose of minimizing the effect of racism in our profession,” NOMA’s official website reads.
These clubs also serve to connect students to others in their chosen field, both to their peers and to outside sources, and to provide experience for the students.
At the American Institute for Chemical Engineers club (AIChE), Sequoia May, junior chemical engineering major and vice president of CBU’s AIChE club, talked about the competitions the club competes in.
“We have a couple of projects that we do throughout the year,” May said. “(For) the junior year project they make cars and we have to find some kind of power source whether it be a chemical reaction or a battery that we make.”
Paul Rasoumoff, junior chemical engineering major and president of CBU’s AIChE club, said there are many rules that go into making these cars.
“There’s a bunch of rules for the competition, like no open flames or mechanical brakes, to prevent you from using other forms of engineering,” Rasoumoff said. “We have a semester to work on it, and then if it does well, the following semester we will compete in a regional competition. If we do well at that, we’ll move on to a world’s competition and I believe it was two years ago that we got third. So, in the past we’ve done pretty well.”
Besides AIChE’s car competition for chemical engineering, many other clubs have projects students can join in on, such as the American Society Of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) club’s trebuchet that will be made and presented right here on campus in the upcoming spring semester.
Carson Merrill, senior mechanical engineering major and president of ASME, talked about the club’s trebuchet.
“It’s a medieval catapult that is going to be put on the Front Lawn at the end of the academic year and we’re going to launch either pumpkins or watermelons across the field,” Merrill said. “(In) prior years, we were able to get it to go 300 feet, so it’s a lot of fun. We’re doing it from scratch this year — a full redesign — and we need help.”
There are many opportunities for students looking to join a club, and many more activities such as the Idea LaunchPad and the Bob Goodrich Business Plan Competition happening in March next semester.
Among the other clubs in attendance were the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC), the Aviation Science Club, the Nutrition Club, the Health Science Society, and the Pre-Vet, Pre-Optometry and Pre-Pharmacy clubs.
If students are looking to get connected with their peers with shared interests, CBU’s clubs are here and ready for more members.
