Club executives encouraged to showcase live demonstrations to bring in more students
Greta Kooy, News Editor
Photos provided by Yats Palat
During the 2017-18 academic year, the Capilano Students’ Union (CSU) restructured clubs on campus, making changes to clubs’ executive committees and their funding procedures. These changes were made in the hopes that student-run clubs at Capilano University would be able to operate successfully with the right amount of support from the CSU.
Student participation in clubs on campus was also a factor. In order to encourage more student involvement, and showcase what clubs the University has to offer, the CSU holds an annual Clubs Day in the CSU Members Centre. This year the event was held on Tuesday, Oct. 16.
There were an estimated 200+ students in attendance throughout the day.
Officially there are 32 active clubs and associations at CapU. Of that, there was a total of 13 clubs in attendance. Despite this, CSU Vice President Student Life, Yats Palat, noted that the turnout for Clubs Day was better than the previous year, which he believes is because they know there’s more support from the CSU.
Among the clubs and associations in attendance were the Music Therapy Students Alliance, Capilano Radio Club, Young Women in Business, Thrive: Recreation Club, Capilano University Marketing Association and Enactus Capilano.
The event was organized by Palat, Yogen Mistry, club coordinator for the CSU, and Sarah Carrier, CSU services coordinator.
“The most important thing for students non-academically here is to have a good student life,” said Palat. “They have to have avenues where they can get involved, and more importantly they need to feel like they’re part of a community.”
Palat encouraged the different clubs and associations in attendance to bring something tangible to show students what they were all about. The 3D Printing Club, for example, brought along a 3D printer for a live demonstration.
Connor Fitzpatrick, president of the 3D Printing Club, pointed out that many parts of the printer brought to Clubs Day were 3D printed themselves. “We’ve been trying to make sure that normal students have access to the engineering department’s 3D printers,” said Fitzpatrick. “When it’s such a cool technology, everyone should be able to use it.”
The Model UN Club (MUN) took a different approach to engagement, setting up a Steven Crowder-styled “Change My Mind” table. The MUN Club is an educational simulation of the United Nations where students learn, among many other things, to be diplomatic speakers. “[People] want to talk about political issues across the world, but they don’t always know how to voice their opinions,” said MUN Club President Harsha Sharma, adding that a large part of the club’s activities are about communication. “We go down to different conferences and we represent countries as delegates and we discuss political issues. It could be hunger issues, women’s issues, youth empowerment, poverty, corruption,” she said.
“Having these events is really important,” said Mistry. “It really builds your confidence and you meet a lot of people … and share experiences.”
Spencer Nash, president of the Tabletop Role-Playing Club, emulated Mistry’s words. “I’ve made most of my friendships through the Tabletop Role-Playing Club here at Cap, I would encourage more people to join and give it a shot,” he said. The Tabletop Role-Playing Club has been around since 2015 and is one of the more unique clubs on campus. Although Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) seems to be the most popular within the club, they do play different games. “It definitely is a time commitment, but it’s also a lot of fun,” said Nash. “It’s a way to improve your social skills and improve your improvisation skills. I’d say D&D has taught me a lot more than I could ever learn in the classroom … in terms of creativity and problem solving.”
As with previous years, the club with the most signatures at the end of Clubs Day received a congratulatory prize from the CSU. This year the winners were the Capilano Radio Club, who took home a cash prize of $100.
For more information on what clubs are offered at CapU, or about starting your own club, please visit www.csu.bc.ca.