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0 Written by Joseph Dyck
Every September, our campus buzzes with energy as students—both new and returning—fill the hallways, eager for a fresh start. Amid this excitement, Club Rush Week offers a snapshot of the diverse ULSU clubs available to join. To the students that signed up back then, congratulations! You’ve taken the first step toward new friendships, skills, and experiences. To all those intrigued by a club’s table but forced to rush off to class without signing up, I encourage you to explore the ULSU Club’s List at any point of the year and join any that pique your interest.
Now, this isn’t a lecture about your responsibility to contribute time and effort to student life, nor a call to echo JFK’s famous words about civic duty to “ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country” (Kennedy, 1961). Let’s set aside grand ideals for a moment and focus on something more immediate: your own well-being. Engaging with a club isn’t just about giving back—it’s about enriching your university experience in ways that benefit you.
Joining a Club is Worth Your Time
Before getting involved in clubs, I always used the excuse that I didn’t have enough time. Senior undergraduates might find this concern ironic, especially if a casual conversation with a clubmate once saved them from making a poor course selection.
Plainly, club participation allows you to learn from others’ missteps and successes. And, if you have a career trajectory in mind, do yourself a favour and engage with the more senior undergrad students sorting through their graduate program options. Misinformation and individual blind spots can cost you much more than the time spent at any club’s annual general meeting. If you agree that this could be time well spent, it is worth considering your wealth of options.
Clubs For Every Interest
As the days get colder, you might be considering a getaway to the mountains for some skiing or snowboarding. In addition to the Board, Ski, Surf Club’s (BSS) ski trips to Castle Mountain Resort and their January-planned Fernie trip, you can join the BSS for movie night events in November and December, with raffles for ski and snowboard gear from Alpenland and Borderline (B. O’Connell, personal communication, September 9, 2024).
If card games, board games, Jackbox, and TTRPGs like Dungeons and Dragons are more to your taste, join the GEEKs Club for a low-commitment, chill environment on Tuesday and Saturday evenings (S. Snyder, personal communication, September 8, 2024).
In short, clubs are a lot of fun!
Last year, the Robotics Club held a Line-Following Robot Competition with over 40 participating students. This year, the Robotics Club is organizing a Sumo Bot competition in addition to their regular hackathons and guest lectures from industry experts (C. Suryadevara, personal communication, September 8, 2024). Beyond the classic club pizza parties and corn maze trips, the recreational and regenerative opportunities are boundless!
Professional Development
The ULSU list also includes academically designated clubs aimed at helping aspiring students toward professional roles as accountants, lawyers, nurses, or medical doctors.
For example, the Nursing Club is notable for its comradery and the mentorship of new students and upcoming transfer students from Lethbridge Polytechnic (N. Yagos, personal communication, September 8, 2024).
Suppose you are interested in routes to practicing medicine, including optometry or veterinary professions. In that case, the Pre-Med Club hosts pizza-supplied information nights, an annual suture clinic, and their new soap-carving events for aspiring dental students (H. Christie, personal communication, September 9, 2024). Check out their “Med Monday” and “Wellness Wednesday” social media initiatives.
Academic-focused clubs can be invaluable for promoting networking and mentorship opportunities with professionals in your field of interest and setting a foundation for your circle of dependable, informed colleagues.
For business students, the Dhillon Business Students’ Association (DBSA) can help facilitate hands-on experience in media management, event planning, podcast creation, and volunteer experience that can be added directly to your transcript. The DBSA celebrates networking events and parties as well as their Making a Difference Through Community Initiatives, including clothing thrift drives, that helped raise over $600 for the Campus Food Bank last year (C. Bryden, personal communication, September 8, 2024).
Giving Back
Alongside career-focused clubs, the ULSU includes clubs aimed at lives of meaning, philanthropy, and community-building.
Rotaract Club members meet throughout the year for volunteering opportunities at the animal shelter or soup kitchen and social events such as movie nights and corn maze trips (Rotaract Club Executive, personal communication, September 9, 2024).
The AssureUs Club offers guidance and resources to help new students transitioning into university, including community outreach and workshop training sessions focused on leadership and communication (T. Fashina, personal communication, September 9, 2024.
Spiritual and Cultural Connections
There are multiple clubs that pay attention to students’ religious and spiritual interests. Freedom House holds Thursday evening meetings, located in Markin Hall, for Christian fellowship on campus (M. Oladoye, personal communication, September 9, 2024).
The importance of social connection is the thread that runs through the events planned by the University of Lethbridge Black Students’ Association, including paint-and-sips, breakfasts during midterms, local volunteering, cultural showcase, casual kickback gatherings, and Culture Week collaborations with All My Relations (M. Ngungkpan, personal communication, September 25, 2024).
Clubs bridge the gap between satisfying simple needs, like a slice of pizza, and nurturing unexpected personal growth and deeper human connections.
The Payoff: Personal Growth
Personally, I received the biggest benefits from taking on executive roles in the Pre-Law Society. It has been rewarding to see fellow students build social connections, learn, and succeed.
The executives I reached out to consistently expressed how much they have enjoyed finding new friends and growing their skill sets. Joining a club and engaging in executive leadership is a qualitatively different activity from anything you will find in your course outlines and assignments. As an executive, you are empowered to sort out your values, consider alternative perspectives on events, self-direct the execution of plans, set boundaries, connect with off-campus stakeholders, and engage your creative thinking. This is a crucible of personal growth unmatched by most other aspects of student life. I can’t promise that joining a club is your answer to finding meaning, but the friendships and victories of being the change you want to see in the world may be just what you need.
References:
Kennedy, J. F. (1961, January 20). Inaugural address. U.S. National Archives. https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/president-john-f-kennedys-inaugural-address
