Club leaders face fluctuating participation from MC students
According to the Maryville College student organization website, MC offers over 40 clubs for Scots to choose from, but balancing academics, athletics, volunteering and work can prove difficult for students to show up and show out for these student orgs.
Alexandra Yalove (‘27), founder of the MC Crotchet Club, said getting people to participate has been the most difficult part of maintaining her organization.
“I have struggled with advertising even with tabling events and posters being put everywhere,” Yalove said. “I wasn’t expecting [my club] to fade as quickly as it did.”
Larger clubs can also struggle with lack of student participation from time to time. Studying for exams, writing papers or competing in tournaments can lead to club events being put last on the to-do list. President of Philosophy Club Ashton Hensley (‘27) experiences these difficulties first-hand.
“Philosophy Club wasn’t a big deal on campus when I first started here… It’s hard to get people to care and [get] involved,” Hensley said. “The mighty few can be the base. We are proud of the few that show up. [Even] with a smaller vibe it’s still a safe space.”
While lack of participation still hurts clubs of any size. A larger club has more opportunities for things like advertising, running larger scale events and being able to give more back to students whether through prizes or offering food. These larger clubs also typically have a board of students to delineate tasks to.
“Part of my job as president is to lead leadership meetings and also lead a good amount of [club] meetings,” Hensley said.
Smaller clubs typically do not have the same amount of opportunities because their executive board might only be one or two people.
“Looking back, you need someone with the sole purpose of getting people involved…. You can’t do [club creation] alone. You need people who will take part in [running a club] with you,” Yalove said.
If lack of participation is hurting clubs big or small then what can be done to help? On the institutional level, one idea is having a general student organization social media page. This could help prevent the existence of Instagram accounts for inactive clubs and confusion surrounding what clubs students can still join.
Accounts for retired clubs MC Votes and the MC Harry Potter Club are still up although their most recent posts are from 2021.
Additionally, during club creation MC could require that social media passwords are shared to be able clean social media of “dead” accounts in the future.
Having a centralized place for student organization advertisements of activities could make students more likely to interact with posts. While there is the MC Today newsletter, many students do not take the time to read it each morning. Posts about upcoming events and story announcements the day of an event can help put club events at the forefront of students minds.
Clubs provide students with a sense of community and belonging, while also helping them meet new people and get involved.
“[By being in a club] I learned about my leadership style, patience and my personal life is more organized. I feel more prepared for the real world and grad school,” Hensley said.
If a student cannot find a club that is a good fit, then they are always urged to start their own organization. Hensley offers his own advice if showing up to a club still sounds intimidating.
“Show up to one meeting, it’s free, nothing bad can happen. If you don’t think it’s your niche it could be,” Hensley said.
For more information about Crotchet Club visit one of their meetings on Thursdays from 1-2 p.m. in Anderson Hall 240. For more information about Philosophy Club visit their Instagram page: @mc_philosophyclub, or Anderson Hall 140 on Tuesdays from 5:30-6:30 p.m.