New clubs form on campus

It’s the start of the spring semester, and you’re looking for something new to do. Maryville College now has four new clubs for everyone on campus to join, and each group provides a unique interest or service program.

Best Buddies is a service program that teams up with Gateway to Independence, a non-profit located in Blount County, to pair members of the community with adults who have intellectual and developmental disabilities. The Best Buddies chapter of Maryville College was started by Lily Winebarger, a freshman psychology major.

Winebarger was part of the program at her high school and saw a need for something like it here. Since Best Buddies is usually a high school program pairing students with other students, she felt the need to start a chapter at a college so adults at Gateway could get the same experience. Buddies meet once or twice a month at Gateway for events such as tailgating for football games or doing fundraisers.

“We have something for everyone to do, whether that be pairing up with one buddy or coming to an event and hanging out with all of us,” Winebarger said. If you’re interested in joining Best Buddies, you can email Winebarger at [email protected] or come to a chapter meeting!

MC Cubers (MC³) are a group of students who meet on Fridays at 6 p.m. in Bartlett 201 and solve Rubik’s Cubes together. Whether it be a Rubik’s Revenge (4x4x4), a complex 11×11, or a triangular Rubik’s, they are determined to figure it out!

MC³ was started by Derrick Kurtzer Barnes, a sophomore Finance and Accounting major, who was inspired to pick up his first Rubik’s Cube his freshman year by a member of Residence Life, Jake Working. After solving his first cube, Barnes became addicted and now likes to claim “the bigger, the better” when it comes to solving them.

After their first initial interest meeting, MC³ hopes to host a competition soon to see who can solve the cube the fastest. The winner will get a prize! They also will hold workshop meetings where beginners can learn how to solve the cubes on their own. Make sure to be checking the MC Today for updates on meeting times and events or email [email protected] to hear more.

The Define American Chapter of Maryville College was started by Alexa Maqueo-Toledo, sophomore sociology major, and Natalie Tankersley, a senior religion major, after learning about the organization in an autobiographical documentary on the founder called “Documented: A film by an undocumented American.”

Both with a strong passion for immigration advocacy, Maqueo-Toledo and Tankersley met with other students and the chapters coordinator to begin the process of being the first DA chapter in Tennessee.

Define American is a non-profit organization working on changing the narrative and culture on what it means to be an American. The Maryville College chapter plans on hosting information and welcome tables at Pearson’s dining hall throughout the semester so students can learn more. They also will be throwing watch parties and showing the recent reboot of “Party of Five,” a story that now focuses on family separation.

“Having a forum through DA will hopefully both show immigrant students on the resources and people they can find at MC and enlighten our community on the real lives of immigrants in our community,” Tankersley said. Email Edna Hernandez at [email protected] to be included in email reminders about upcoming events and activities from Define American.

Maryville College now has philosophy club thanks to Ben Dodson, a sophomore psychology major with a minor in philosophy. Last semester, Dodson and his friends would meet up throughout the week and talk about what they had learned in Dr. Bill Meyer’s Life’s Ultimate Questions philosophy course.

Soon they started to get more people to join, and Ben figured that he should promote it throughout campus. Dodson describes his club as a place where students can come talk about the world and it not feel like a class.

“When I started to talk about making it an official club, I was discouraged because some people thought that no one would show up, but the opposite happened,” Dodson said. “Kids from all different majors came together and talked about what is the meaning of life.”

If you’re interested in talking about subjects such as the fourth dimension or asking if free will is an illusion, come join philosophy club Mondays at 5 p.m. in Anderson 140 or contact  Dodson at [email protected].