The sea of tables at Cokes and Clubs can be overwhelming. If you love the idea of joining a new club and pursuing a new interest, but have no idea where to start, let Chimes make your life a little easier. Last semester, the office of Campus of Involvement and Leadership chartered seven student organizations. Some have been chartered in the past, but lost their charters due to COVID. Others are new. Chimes spoke with the following student organization leaders: Ryan Medema and Sophia Bieri from Adventure Club; Nisya Tiffany Salim and Sherise Immanuela from Bersama Fellowship; Caroline Fea, Nehem-Brainerd David and Isaac Rop from International Justice Mission (IJM) Calvin; Ben Phippen, Henry Phippen and David Bajwa from Nerf Tag Club; Eleanor Scheeres and Abigail Liebetreu from PreHealth Professionals Club; Su Ji Lim from Rangeela; and Jonathan Stremler from Turning Point USA about their clubs’ missions and why students should consider joining.

Chimes: What is the mission of your club? What inspired you to start this club?

Adventure Club: The mission of our club is to inspire confidence and instill competence in students in the outdoors. We hope to encourage a sense of wonder towards God’s creation through wilderness-based recreation experiences. Adventure Club began with a few outdoor rec students at least a decade ago. It is an established club. We’ve gone in and out of chartership but have never stopped programming because of it.

Bersama Fellowship: Bersama Fellowship has actually been around for quite a long time. Ten years ago, it started out as an Indonesian student fellowship and has slowly grown to also include Malaysian and Singaporean students. At its core, Bersama Fellowship is an Indonesian, Malaysian and Singaporean student association that seeks to create a fellowship community where members can grow in their faith and celebrate our shared cultural identity. Bersama Fellowship is not limited to just Indonesian, Malaysian and Singaporean students; we are absolutely open to all students who have a special connection to these three countries or are just interested in learning more about our cultural heritage. Bersama is a Melayu word that means “together,” and that togetherness is what we want to emphasise in our fellowship.

IJM Calvin: The mission of the Calvin Chapter of the International Justice Mission is to raise awareness and funds to support IJM. IJM is a nonprofit organization that does work on almost every continent to protect people in poverty from violence. 

Nerf Tag Club: Our mission is to provide Calvin students with a fun and alternative option for exercise and fellowship. We were really into Nerf and have amassed large collections of stock and modified Nerf blasters, which we wanted to share with the student body.

PreHealth Professionals Club: The mission of the PreHealth Professionals Club is to bring together the large community of pre-health students at Calvin  to participate in activities like volunteering that benefit all pre-health students in their graduate studies pursuits. We cannot claim credit for starting this club since it has been at Calvin for a number of years. However, we are motivated to get the club back in business after COVID disrupted our ability to do activities.

Rangeela: Rangeela is not new to Calvin, as it is an event that has been happening for more than 25 years. But it’s Rangeela’s first time being a student organization. Rangeela is meant to be a celebration of cultures, so the mission of Rangeela is to provide an opportunity for international students to share an aspect of their cultural heritage with the Calvin community.  

TPUSA: Turning Point USA’s mission is to identify, educate, train and organize students to promote freedom, free markets and limited government through innovative campus activism, thought-provoking discussion and the promotion of free speech. This club was started a couple years ago by other students, but was not allowed a charter until this semester.

Chimes: How will your organization benefit students?

Adventure Club: Our organization connects students to the wilderness, makes adventure accessible to everyone, cultivates community and has free snacks.

Bersama Fellowship: Despite making up a significant portion of the international student body, Calvin doesn’t have an official space where Indonesian, Malaysian and Singaporean students can celebrate our cultures. Through Bersama, we hope to make Calvin a more vibrant campus than it already is, to add that Southeast Asian colour to the palette (disclaimer: we are fully aware that we don’t make up the entire Southeast Asian population and one of our long-term plans is to one day become a Southeast Asian student association).

IJM Calvin: Our organization is a great way for students to get involved with a mission bigger than themselves and find like-minded peers that are committed to making the world a better place. 

Nerf Tag Club: We offer a fun way to relax and release energy.

PreHealth Professionals Club: Our organization is geared toward helping students get the volunteer and leadership experience they will need to be a strong candidate for their respective graduate programs. It is really helpful to be plugged into such a large community of similar students who understand the tumultuous nature of being a pre-health student. 

Rangeela: Rangeela benefits international students by giving them the opportunity to remember, celebrate, and share their cultures, and local students in how they can join the celebration by appreciating and learning more about the beautiful, diverse cultures in the world.  

TPUSA: We benefit Calvin students by organizing fun and educational meetings discussing current events or political ideas, hosting activism tables around campus and keeping students up to date on exciting national or state-wide conferences and talks.

Chimes: What plans or events are you hoping your club will put on throughout the school year?

Adventure Club: A few staple events punctuate the school year. Camp on Campus and Walloween are in the fall. This spring, expect adventure grants, the used gear sale and Kayak-Kayak night (watch a movie about kayaking while in a kayak in the pool).

Bersama Fellowship: Bersama Fellowship in the past has done a lot of fellowship events where we gather for worship, Bible study and food. You’ll hear more from us about when those will be this semester along with some events specific to celebrating Melayu culture. For example, this October we’re celebrating National Batik Day, which raises awareness and appreciates a traditional pattern native to these three countries called “Batik.” You’ll see some of our community members walking around campus wearing these colourful patterns and you can catch a glimpse of that on our Instagram @bersamafellowship later.

IJM Calvin: We have a lot of fun stuff planned for the school year! Our biggest fundraising event will take place in late October. The event will be called Threads and will be a student-sourced pop-up thrift shop. Students can donate clothes in their dorms and then thrift from their peer’s donations as well as donations from local vintage resellers! 

Nerf Tag Club: We will have biweekly events on Sunday afternoons, with a campuswide tournament in the works.

PreHealth Professionals Club: We plan to do large off-campus volunteering events together, including working with community health partners or volunteering at homeless shelters. We plan to have a mentorship program that will allow upperclassmen to mentor underclassmen who want advice on any range of topics, such as how to reach out to organizations you want to volunteer or work at, which classes were most beneficial to take, and tips to get through the difficult classes like organic chemistry and physics. We hope to bring medical health professionals on campus to do a panel Q&A, as well as have various study sessions throughout the semester.

Rangeela: We had our kickoff event on Sept. 9 where students were invited to come meet act leaders, hear details about what each country’s act is going to look like this year and sign up for acts of interest. Rehearsals will be held weekly, and our show will be in February. 

TPUSA: We have a lot of meetings where we discuss things like federalism, globalism, George Orwell and other interesting political topics. We’ll also be hosting activism tables, movie nights and Halloween pumpkin painting! Finally, this fall we’re helping Calvin students attend the Live Free tour with Candace Owens at Michigan State University in October.

Chimes: What advice do you have for students trying to decide which clubs to join who are overwhelmed by all the options? Why should students consider joining your organization? 

Adventure Club: We would advise students to look at who they are and who they want to be, then decide what clubs to join or become involved in. But also, pushing comforts and trying new things is incredibly beneficial for freshmen. Adventure Club and outdoor recreation in general is incredibly tightly knit, and you build excellent, deep relationships with people as you gain new skills and become proficient in the outdoors. You are fostered by upperclassman adventurers, being mentored into the best leader you can be. Traditions are passed through storytelling and gathering. There is no other community on campus quite like it. I [Bieri] wouldn’t be who I am today without the community I found through Adventure Club and outdoor recreation.

Bersama Fellowship: There’s no pressure to join any club your first year at Calvin; take your time to see what your interests really are. Maybe attend a few events first from a handful of clubs (a Bersama event would be a good place to start, *wink wink*) that spark your interest and see if it’s something you can see yourself doing for the next semester or year. If you happen to be someone who has spent time in Indonesia, Malaysia, or Singapore, or you’re looking for an international fellowship group to connect yourself to, or are simply curious about our cultures, then Bersama Fellowship is the place for you!

IJM Calvin: Calvin offers such a diverse range of clubs, there’s a fit for everyone! IJM Calvin creates a unique opportunity for students because we work directly with the International Justice Mission and if you are passionate about ending human trafficking, you can learn and create connections that will benefit your future! Christ calls us to act in compassion for the poor and for justice for the oppressed. Getting involved with IJM Calvin is a great place to start working to fulfill this call.

Nerf Tag Club: It’s a ton of fun and great for a study break!

PreHealth Professionals Club: Choose an organization to consistently show up for that is within your realm of interest. We remember freshman year signing up for about 15 different clubs because that’s what we thought we should do and being overwhelmed by all the emails we were getting. We think that all pre-health students would benefit from our org, because being connected to the community on campus provides an automatic support system and we are planning events with what health graduate programs require. Additionally, we are not a high commitment group –– we encourage students to come to the events we put on, but we will only have one to two large events per month.

Rangeela: Our advice is to choose a student organization that best caters to not just your interests, but also something that you could find fulfillment and community in. We welcome all international and non-international students to Rangeela, as we hope to be an org that celebrates culture, encourages learning and fosters community. 

TPUSA: Put yourself out there and try a lot of new things! You should definitely join our organization if you’re interested in conservative politics; it’s a great way to meet people with similar values on campus.