Campus Involvement for Arcadians: Finding Student Organizations to Join
Getting involved on campus can be daunting sometimes, especially when you don’t know what’s out there. So I asked the presidents of four prominent student organizations about their groups for some extra information. Special thanks to Nyla Russell (Black Awareness Society), Akiera Laubin (Student Programming Board), Hannah Cropper and Jeremy Harman (Honors), and Tyleenda Wilson (The Knightlight Cheerleaders)! With that, here’s a mini guide to help you find something you may like.
Looking to learn about Black culture and topics important to the Black community?
Take a look at the Black Awareness Society (BAS), a club that was created to represent the interests of African-Americans and people of African descent in all Arcadia University activities. They meet 1 to 3 times a month, typically on Thursday evenings. BAS has held some interesting events, including Black Minds Matter, a Kwanzaa Celebration, and Real Talk. Some events to look forward to are the Black Excellence Social, the Young Men Meet luncheon, and a Town Hall.
Do you like organization, planning, and fun events for the Arcadia community? Then you might want to take a look at the Student Programming Board (SPB)!
SPB is a group that strives to provide events that meet the social, educational, and cultural needs of the diverse university community while offering various opportunities for student involvement and leadership. They plan events for students to enjoy with some of the past ones being Woodstock, the Winter Gala, and smaller campus events like bubble soccer, laser tag, and drag bingo, which was on March 24th. Future events they are planning are Woodstock and Blitz Carnival, now collectively called Scarlet Knights Weekend and happening from April 20th – April 23rd.
If you’re interested in more academic pursuits, choose a club with a focus like psychology club or computer science and mathematics club, or even Honors!
Honors is actually not a club, but a minor that is offered by the university. It’s not like a typical Honors program in that they don’t prioritize academic courses, but want to take highly motivated students and help them learn about cooperation and leadership through various activities, allowing them to thrive. Different groups within the program, such as Council (their leadership board) and Beekeepers (their event planners) have different meeting times depending on the needs of the members. Some interesting events put on by Honors are Rocky Horror (the show this year was AMAZING); Pioneer Series, where Arcadia alumni are brought in to talk about their experiences, and Senior Social, a sort of prom for elders! Some events to look forward to are Breakfast Club, which happens in the Hive every other Thursday; the SEPCHE conference, where Honors students have the chance to present about an approved topic of their choice, and Pollenpalooza (a reference to the Honors program’s bee theme), where seniors in the minor are celebrated.
Do you like expressing yourself through the arts, specifically singing or dancing? You should join one of the school’s choirs or dance teams.
On campus, there are 3 choirs: University Choir, Women’s Ensemble, and Chamber Choir. One of the dance teams is The Knightlight Cheerleaders (TKC). They don’t have events, but do performances at basketball games, hold weekly practices, and occasionally do bake sales. If you want to hear musical performances, the choirs and orchestra perform at First Fridays, a themed concert typically held in the Castle every first Friday of each month!
Here are the Instagram pages for each group:
BAS: @bas.arcadia
SPB: @auspb
Honors: @arcadiahonors
Choir: @arcadia_choirs
TKC: @tkc_auc
