Autumn Involvement Fair spotlights RSOs
The Center for Student Involvement hosts the Autumn Involvement Fair for students to learn more about offered RSOs.
By Rylee Morrow
In a campus that primarily serves commuters, it is easy for students to simply come to class and go home each day, but UW Tacoma has so much more to offer. There are countless ways for students to get involved in the campus community, make friends and find a place to belong when classes are not in session. Joining a Registered Student Organization (RSO) is one of the many ways to do this.
UW Tacoma has over 70 RSOs, serving several different majors, identities and interests. Whether you’re a new student looking to find friends or a returning student wanting to get more involved on campus, there is an RSO out there for you.
It can be intimidating to sift through all of them until you find one that suits you, so each quarter the Center for Student Involvement (CSI) hosts “Involvement Fairs”, where students can explore and learn about different RSOs. The Autumn Involvement Fair ran from Oct. 12-13 on the Prairie Line Trail and gave many RSOs the opportunity to make themselves known to students.
At the fair, I spoke to three different RSOs to learn more about them and their thoughts on student involvement.
Tabletop Games Club meets every Monday at 3 p.m., and the club serves as a very low-stakes way for people to get to know others who love gaming. They meet in the Dawg House and serve as a space for people to either run their own games or play a game run by an officer. There are tons of gaming options, including Dungeons and Dragons, Magic the Gathering, Catan and more. I spoke with one of the officers, Rebecca Miller, and they explained that last year they ran a Vampire: The Masquerade campaign for new players.
Miller really loves that RSOs give people a space to hang out and see familiar faces. Despite it being an established gaming club, this RSO is for everyone, no matter their experience level. “I will chip in and teach anybody anything. We’re all just social butterflies, all things considered.” Miller said.
Huskies for GRIT is an acronym for Green Responsibility in Tacoma, a great play on words for our own Grit City. Their aim is to pick up litter on and around campus and invest in sustainability-based items. Gracen Buchanan is the president of Huskies for GRIT, and she explained, “We’re just trying to make Tacoma a greener, more environmentally friendly place… It’s really just small things, you know? Making little changes where you can.” The club meets on Saturdays at various clean-up locations from 10 a.m. to noon in order to avoid the barrier of class schedules. More information about clean ups can be found on their Instagram.
UW Tacoma has several RSOs for different ethnic groups. The Filipino American Student Association (FASA) is one of these. This organization meets every Wednesday in Joy 114 from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Their goal is to bring Filipino American culture to campus. Raydiant Clinton, the co-event coordinator for FASA, explained a very unique feature of the RSO, which is their mentor and mentee program. This allows for freshman to be taken under the wing of an upperclassman while they are fully integrated into campus. This is a fantastic opportunity available for all students. This RSO is made up of both Filipino American students and students of other origin.
When asked if she had any advice for students wanting to get involved in campus, Clinton said, “Don’t let people talk you out of things. They’ll tell you something that was a bad experience for them. Let yourself make that decision.”
While this is just a small piece of the fair, there were displays for many other RSOs. In attendance was also Women in Cybersecurity, Outdoors Club, Black Student Union (BSU), Associated Students of UW Tacoma (ASUWT) and many more.
If you happened to miss the Involvement fair, you can still learn about the opportunities available to students. Visit the Center for Student Involvement’s home page to find information on RSOs, service opportunities and more.
