Last Wednesday, Sept. 13, the university had its involvement fair, which meant the pathway from the University Center to the bookstore was crowded with clubs trying to entice students to join them. Many of these were clubs that had been on campus for decades or longer. Some, like the local Dungeons and Dragons club, have existed for 20 years, while some of the fraternities stretch back a hundred years (or more)! However, the most striking part of the involvement fair was just how many new clubs had appeared on campus. 

One of these new clubs was Alpha Delta Phi, which formed May 6, 2023. Alpha Delta Phi is the first and only gender-neutral Greek organization on campus. 

When asked why they started it their founder Orin Smith said, “I was really interested in the community of the Greek org, but I didn’t really see a place in them for me and people like me.”

Alpha Delta Phi likes to improve its members by encouraging them to pursue whatever activity encourages their personal growth, whether this is reading, watching films, or even working out. 

Seated next to these new Greek organizations was a club dedicated to increasing the beauty in the world, a goal which they accomplished through making crafts! Their table was a delightful riot of colors covered with various crafts. 

When telling us about what kind of crafts they make their first and current president Georgia Mayfield said, “we make small crafts; I’ve led a session in making crochet frogs, we also make things out of felt and yarn.” 

Mayfield was very specific on the point that they are not an art club, and that their goal is to teach how to make small crafts. 

Another more casual club is the climbing club, which is enjoying its first semester here at Whitewater. One of their founding members and current president Ryan Collins said that their club is open to anyone interested in climbing regardless of experience. They plan to do a few climbs indoors and a couple outside, with the ones outside most likely taking place at Devil’s Lake. 

While there were even more new clubs at this year’s involvement fair, the last one that we met with was the social innovation club. 

The social innovation club was founded in 2023. Currently their main project is the pitch front project. According to their current president Travis Erath, the pitch front project is where the club gathers donations which they use to rent a storefront for a year. They will then gather proposals of possible businesses to put in the store and choose the best one, this business will then have a year to use the storefront. They will start in Whitewater, but Erath hopes to create a network of these pitch-front projects in multiple cities. 

These clubs truly show the potential of club life at Whitewater. Each of these clubs exists to cater to a completely different interest, and as more students come to the school with new interests the number of new clubs will continue to grow.