Monday, December 03, 2012
Why You Should Join a Student Club
Student ID: 1016257 Class: COMS369-L02
What if there was a
low-cost way for you to get the most out of your undergraduate experience, gain
some leadership skills, make some new friends, as well as differentiate
yourself from others in the job market?
Joining a student club
is a great way to do all of the above and enhance your experience at the
University of Calgary. In this context, a student club is a recognized body of
students that work towards a common goal and purpose. They can be as large or as
small as one wants, and can center on almost anything.
At the beginning of my
four and a half years at the University of Calgary, I made it a goal to join as
many student clubs as possible in order to spruce up resume so companies would
hire me. I joined clubs like the Commerce Undergraduate Society, EcoClub, Kids
Help Phone, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, and other clubs that I thought would
look great to a recruiter looking at my resume. I took on very passive roles in
the clubs, just doing the bare minimum that would qualify me as a member. Needless
to say, this backfired. When I was questioned about these experiences in job
interviews, I was not able to expand on them due to my inactivity in each club,
making my involvement almost useless. It was not until my third year that I
decided to focus on just a few clubs that really spoke to my interests and
expertise. I joined Alliances in Marketing (AIM), the student marketing club at
the Haskayne School of Business, where I was a member of the academic
portfolio. In this role, I led exam review sessions for students and developed
midterm exam packages for students enrolled in the introductory marketing class
for all business students. This led to me being a teaching assistant for the
course, which helped me build connections in the industry, eventually allowing
me to meet my future employer who I will be starting my dream job with after I
graduate. I can fully attribute this job opportunity to my involvement in clubs
and the connections I built there. Currently, I am the President of Alliances
in Marketing, where I get to help other students make connections in the
industry as well.
If that was not enough
to convince you to join a club, I have come up with five other reasons for you
to get involved:
1. There is something for everyone
You
may be thinking that joining student clubs are exclusive to “keeners”, or for a
specific type of person that does not fit who you are. While those types of
people do join clubs, there are so many clubs available at the University of
Calgary (U of C) that you do not have to be a certain type of person to get
involved. According to the Students’ Union’s website as of 2012, the U of C offers
over 300 student clubs ranging from sports to music to religion to hobbies,
making it difficult not to find at least one club that speaks to your
interests. Some of the interesting ones that I found when browsing the Students
Union homepage are the Food and Wine Club, Quidditch Club, Students in
Communications Club, and Speakmasters Club.
2.
Involved
students are more successful academically
You may also be thinking that you do not have
time to join a club due to your heavy course load or other school activities.
While limited time will always be an issue for students, consider this: studies
have shown repeatedly that students who are involved do better academically.
According to the National Survey of Student Engagement (2012), student success
is directly linked to student involvement as the more involved students are in
the institution, the more invested they will be.
3. Develop useful skills
Potential
employers will look for more than just a degree when you apply to their
company. They will want students who do more than just go through the motions
and who can be a valuable asset to their company. You can build social skills,
networking skills, leadership skills, and countless others depending on the
role you take on in the club. Oftentimes, these are skills that cannot be fully
developed in a classroom setting, so taking advantage of the opportunities that
student clubs offer is a great way to learn them.
4. Enhance Your Resume
We
all would like to spice up our resume to make us more attractive to recruiters.
What is going to differentiate you from someone else with the exact same GPA as
you? Student club involvement can make the difference.
5. Make New Friends and Meet New
People
While
it is not impossible to make friends in a classroom setting, it can be
difficult. With over 30,000 students at the University of Calgary, you may meet
a classmate and then never see him or her again. On the other hand, student
organizations allow you to talk with like-minded people on a regular basis and
build long term relationships that can go beyond university.
Now that you are
familiar with some of the benefits of joining a student club, you are probably
wondering what you can do to get involved. First, you need to find out what
kind of club interests you. While it is important to get involved, it is even
more important to join the right kind of club for you. The easiest way is to
visit the Students’ Union website (www.su.ucalgary.ca)
and look through the list of clubs that are available to you. Another way is to
attend Clubs Week, which is the five-day event held during the second week of
the academic semester, where you can talk directly with club members. The worst
that can happen is you walk away with some free swag and candy, so this is an
easy and convenient way to find out more about different clubs. Lastly, if you
do not see a club that relates to your particular interests, you can even apply
to start your own club!
In conclusion, there is
so much more to learning than just attending classes, just memorizing a bunch
of terms, just writing another essay and just leaving this university with a
piece of paper. Whether it is to get a job, meet some like-minded people, or
develop new skills, I strongly recommend that you get the most out of your
short stay here at the University of Calgary and get involved!
Useful
sources:
National
Survey of Student Engagement. (2012). Student
involvement means success all around. Retrieved November 23rd,
2012 from http://blog.orgsync.com/2009/student-involvement-means-success-all-around/
University
of Calgary Students’ Union. (2012). SU clubs.
Retrieved November 23rd, 2012 from http://www.su.ucalgary.ca/page/quality-student-life/clubs
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