Being in a club presents countless opportunities in addition to just participating in your role as a member. There is potential to make new friends or grow previous friendships, learn about the Nazareth College community, get more involved on and/or off campus, take on a leadership role, and learn more about your own interests and hobbies. If one qualification for what you consider a good college to be includes a vast offering of clubs, Nazareth College could be the right place for you. One component that Naz prides itself in is the 50+ clubs and organizations it has. There really is a club for everyone!
Every semester, Naz puts together an event to display many of the clubs and organizations that students have an opportunity to be a part of. The Involvement Fair occurs at the beginning of each fall and spring semester. Each club creates a display in order to educate others on the work they do and answer any questions students may have. Not only is this a great way for students to learn more about the various clubs and organizations on campus, it also provides students with information about new and engaging volunteer opportunities. If you are not available to attend the Involvement Fair, feel free to email the club/organization with any questions (the email address for each club is listed under its description, linked previously). If after you attend the Involvement Fair and explore the list and descriptions of clubs here at Naz, you find the club you were looking for or had in mind isn’t offered, no worries, because there’s an easy-to-follow listing of how to start a new club.
It probably took me longer than it should have to join a club, but, when I did, I realized the numerous benefits there are to being a part of something on campus. In my experience, I heard about a club from one of my friends and decided to learn more about it from the Nazareth College website. After finding out more information and attending the Involvement Fair, I signed my name on the club’s sheet to show them I was interested and moved forward from there. The club that I recently joined is called the Golden Gazette, Nazareth College’s online publication/newspaper. Since entering college, I’ve learned a lot about my love for writing, however, being a part of the Golden Gazette has actually taught me more about finding myself than it has about this skill. Being a writer for Nazareth’s online publication has pushed me to write more about what I like to write about and to write whenever I feel inspired, not just when I feel like I have to.
When learning more about this club, I was told that it was looking for new officers because some of the previous officers had graduated. I thought, “Why not run for office while I’m at it?” With a full class schedule and two part-time jobs, I was a little nervous about how much extra time being a member of the club and also being the vice president and associate editor would take up. Contrary to my assumptions, this club fits perfectly into my schedule because of its flexibility. I can write whenever I want, and meetings are for updates instead of being mandatory. I realized that being in a club fits into most people’s schedules because a member can devote as much or as little time to the club as they would like. This is the case for a lot of the clubs/organizations at Naz. They understand that you are a student first and, as long as you’re upfront about it, don’t mind if your commitment level is a little lower, as long as you’re doing what you can!
In addition to the Golden Gazette, I went to an interest meeting for Naz’s marketing agency, Golden Creative. Unfortunately, I didn’t end up joining Golden Creative this semester because of how I wanted to prioritize my schedule, but I have been working closely with the club to do some of their public relations work. While doing this, I sat in on a few meetings and observed how understanding the officers of this club are in relation to students’ schedules. My point is that, in the course of only a few weeks, I realized that getting involved isn’t as hard as I thought it would be, it looks great on resumes, and it helped me learn a lot about myself and my interests.
Getting involved and putting yourself out there can be scary sometimes, especially when you’re not even completely sure what you’re looking for. I took a risk with what I thought was a full schedule and ended up participating in more clubs and activities than I thought I wanted to in the first place. I look forward to building my experience with the clubs even more next semester. I definitely recommend looking into the extensive list of clubs/organizations and volunteer opportunities that Naz offers because, at least from my experience, being in a club provides more benefits than you think.