How to Find the Right Club at USC for you
By Kelly Kinas ‘16
So there you are. Watching the same show on Netflix for the twenty-third time. You want to do something but you don’t really know what so you just watch Netflix because you think there’s nothing else for you to do. Well, you’re just so lucky you ran into this blog post as you were scrolling through your Facebook feed because I am here to help.
USC has some many opportunities to take advantage of but the real problem is trying to find out what they are and finding them, which is why you have us! A great way to fill up your free time, get involved on campus, help the community around USC, and get leadership experience is through clubs and on-campus organizations. I know. It sounds too good to be true but it isn’t!! Here are some tips for finding what club you belong with here at USC.
1. Go to the Student Organization (EngageUSC) website and see what’s out there
The website is here. It lists all of the active groups and you can input what you like and the site can help match you with possible groups that might fight your interests! First thing’s first, you have to find out what you’re interested in. Also you need to see what groups are still accepting people. Some specific organizations have an application process and that might have already passed so try those out next semester.
You like working with children? Raising money for children: Trojan Dance Marathon, Teaching Children: JEP, Mentoring children (for women): WYSE, Taking kids to camp who suffer from cancer: Camp Kesem, Mentoring and taking kids to camp: Troy Camp.
And those aren’t even all of them! There are so many subsets of every interest that you need to figure out what you want to do broadly first and then narrow it down.
2. Make sure you know you have enough time
Some clubs only have meetings and social events, like the USC Tennis Club. You meet up and play tennis and then there are some social events that you as a club do and that’s the entire commitment. Others require a lot more time, like WYSE. You are mentoring and teaching young women so it takes up more time than just a meeting every week. Ask around. See what stickers are on your classmates’ computers and see if that sounds interesting. Ask questions and make sure you want to commit that amount and time and that you CAN commit that amount of time.
3. Don’t worry if it ends up not working out
If school work takes up more time than you anticipated, if you realize it was too big of an commitment, or even if it just doesn’t work out, that is totally fine. Clubs and organizations want people are committed and care but they are also college students. They will understand if you need to take a week or two off to study for midterms. If you need to quit, that’s fine. Your mental health is more important. Be honest with the people in the club/org.
4. Enjoy Yourself
Do your research and have a great time! There are so many incredibly cool people at USC in some many interesting clubs and organizations (did you SEE the involvement fair??) and now is your chance to take advantage of that!
There are over 700 clubs at USC. Look online, ask your friends and classmates, meet new people, help the world, dance, sing, read comic books, create new ways to help the planet through design and technology, design a new line of clothes, play field hockey, create the newest entrepreneurial fad that will sweep the nation, raise money for children to go to camp, mentor young children, teach at under-privileged schools, join student government and come up with ways for making USC safer and better, sing in an a ccapella group, DO WHATEVER YOU WANT BECAUSE USC HAS A CLUB FOR IT. And if we don’t, create it yourself.
You got it. You’re awesome. Join a club. Get involved.
Fight on!
