Whether you are a first-year looking to get involved on campus, or an upperclassman that wants to end your college career with a bang, the Office of Student Activities and Orientation has you covered. As the year gets underway, five new clubs have goals to improve individual students and the community as a whole.
Alternative Arts:
Alternative Arts is an art club that allows students to create freely with a variety of mediums in a casual environment. Students will center their art around a monthly theme, providing an outlet for all students, no matter their artistic ability or major.
“We wanted to start a community of artists and creators who want to experiment or build their portfolio,” Amelia Capron, Alternative Arts’ Creative Director, and Erin Tilly, Vice President said. “We knew we wanted to make a place for people to grow.”
Students can attend workshop meetings to have a specific time to work on their pieces, and all art will be featured in a gallery at the end of each month. Capron also put together a gallery at the end of the semester. This event showcased everyone’s work from the entire semester and was a night for the club to celebrate as a group.
Alternative Arts meets every Monday at 6:30 p.m. in Room 210AB of the Science and Technology Center.
Students who are interested can reach out to Rebecca Manning (RAManning@lasell.edu) with any questions or check Alternative Arts out on Instagram (@alternative_arts_lasell) to see previous artwork.
Black Student Association (BSA):
The Black Student Association (BSA) was created last spring to build community among Black students. According to BSA President Jalynn Hilton, the club “aims to promote unity among Black students on campus through social and cultural events,” and “provide a safe environment for students to discuss social and cultural issues.”
Hilton and the club’s former President, Claudine Heureuse Jules, started the organization to influence change on campus— a mission that was apparent in their Black History Month Gala last spring. “The idea that everyone came together as one and celebrated a common identity trait that distinguishes all of us as one was beautiful,” Hilton said.
This year’s goal is to continue to grow the club and focus on the needs of the community. Hilton encourages questions and feedback and urges those that wish to get involved to sign up on Laser Involvement or Direct Message BSA on Instagram (@lasellBSA).
BSA is also looking for new e-board members and asks those that are interested to apply via the link in their Instagram bio, which will be accepting applications until Oct 1.
E-Sports:
The E-Sports club is another organization that started last year with a mission to create an inclusive environment to foster opportunities for those interested in competitive gaming.
Coming up, the club plans to hold tryouts and mock tournaments to gauge skill level before creating a varsity team to compete with other schools around the country. Furthermore, the club is getting ready to open a new E-Sports lab, home to computers, gaming systems, and gaming chairs in the coming weeks.
Cheridan Agnew, the club’s Vice President, says the club is about more than just gaming and hopes to provide another outlet for students that want to get involved.
“There are many other aspects that go into [E-Sports] such as marketing, graphic design… and commentating,” Agnew said. “If you are a competitive gamer, that’s amazing…but if you’re not, there’s so many other interests that are involved that go into E-Sports, so that is why we are taking anyone with interest.”
Agnew encourages anyone that is interested in E-Sports to reach out to her (CAgnew@lasell.edu) or President Domenic DeSantis (DDeSantis@lasell.edu) and sign up for their discord (https://discord.gg/aQGQByJrc4 ) located on posters around campus to stay up to date on meetings and events.
Generation Success:
Generation Success is a club designed for first-generation college students to provide them with tips and tricks to be successful in the American higher education system. Generation Success’ President Kelvyn Perez and other resident students put the idea together after noticing a lack of tools and resources to support first generation students.
In addition to informing students about all the resources included in our tuition, most notably the library, technology, facilities, and opportunities for involvement, Perez is focusing on financial aid and helping students understand the process.
“Anything to keep [first generation students] pushing is what I’m really passionate about,” Perez said. “I really want this to be a collaborative situation…it’s not what I want, it’s what they want to get out of it.”
While Perez encourages students who are interested to reach out to him (KLPerez@lasell.edu) for more information, he also urges other students to be a support system for those they see struggling and help to create a community they are passionate about.
Investments Club:
The Lasell Investments Club is the newest club available for students to join. Created by Hayden Wildes and his classmates, the goal of the club is to promote safe and healthy investing habits while teaching students to be more financially independent.
Wildes says initial meetings will discuss information about creating stock portfolios and adopting safe investing skills. Wildes also says he hopes students also learn from other club members and their personal experiences.
More information about meetings and how people can get involved will be available in the future but in the meantime, students can reach out to Wildes with any questions (HWildes@lasell.edu).