Students enjoyed the first Club Rush of the year on Wednesday, Sep. 20.
Clubs set up booths on the Green to highlight their missions and recruit new members. Poster boards scrawled with bubble letters and bright doodles stood out above the heads of the masses, and bowls of candy drew excited students like moths to the flame.
One such stand featuring a splashy sign and mouth-watering mini-treats was the Short Story Writing Club. Junior Evelyn Nassiri explained that the group plans to help members develop their narrative skills with games and contests.
As for her set-up, “I decided to make a poster because we also might do artsy stuff,” she said. “I also wanted to show that we will have candy at our club.”
Other stands used specific colors to convey their purpose. Junior Lia Lev leads the Mental Health Coalition, which aims to bring awareness to mental health issues and fundraise for mental health organizations. She said she chose green markers for her poster and Twix bars with green wrappers because the color signifies mental health awareness.
Lev also shared that organizing a club sometimes begins many months before Club Rush.
“I’ve been working on this for about half a year,” she said. For example, “I’m trying to contact specialists to come in and talk about suicide prevention and about their careers and why they chose it.”
Club Rush also offers a convenient opportunity for club representatives to build community.
Senior Cooper Jones helps lead M-A Hackers, a group dedicated to providing computer science education for every level of coder. He said, “My favorite part [about Club Rush] is just meeting new people. I really hope I made some new friends today and some new members of the club.”
While the Short Story Writing Club, the Mental Health Coalition, and M-A Hackers are all new to this year’s roster, there were many familiar clubs that continue to gain lots of sign-ups.
Epiphany Bass helped run the stand for the Black Student Union, which has remained part of the M-A club scene for years.
“The club’s mission is bringing everyone together and also making everyone feel like they have a place to be,” she said. Students certainly felt welcome as the sign-up sheet was filled with signatures.
Club Rush also allows student organizations to learn about one another. She said, “My favorite part of Club Rush is seeing every other club and stuff that I had know idea about.”
For groups like the Pacific Islander Club, the event is an opportunity to showcase their culture and get others involved.
Senior Ofa Esafe, who helped manage the club’s set-up, said, “We want everybody to not only know our culture but to also join it. It’s better to share information about a culture than just let other people assume what we are.”
A wide variety of students showed interest in the club. “We have a lot of non-Poly people joining today and we just love that,” said Senior Luisa Pahulu, who was also working the stand. “I love seeing freshmen try new things and coming to the booths and asking what our club is—all the questions, we just love it.”
Sophomore Casey St. Clair spent his lunch perusing all the wonderful clubs M-A has to offer and succinctly summarized the general sentiment. He said, “I love Club Rush because you get to see a lot of clubs, meet new people, find common interests with them, and you get a lot of candy and food.”
