For new students coming to college, the idea of joining an extracurricular can be daunting and overwhelming. But joining a club or group has many benefits. Campus organizations can be resume builders, resources for discovering passions, a way to feel connected to your school, and an easy way to make new friends. From personal experience, I have learned that being involved outside of the classroom makes your time at college even more beneficial and allows you to do things you never thought you would have the chance to do.
Here are just a few fun and different extra curricular activities offered here at Penn State:
Business Fraternity
For those who are a business, hospitality management, economics, or energy business and finance major, or a freshman in DUS expecting to go into to business, joining a business fraternity is a great way to get involved. While becoming lifelong friends with your 100+ brothers, you will be involved in many events that benefit the community and expand your professionalism. There are five different business fraternities to choose from at Penn State, so you are sure to find one that is right for you. For more information visit: http://ugstudents.smeal.psu.edu/student-organizations/listing-of-smeal-organizations/business-fraternities
If you don’t think you will be pursuing business, there are many other major specific fraternities and honor societies to be involved such as: Pi Mu Mu (Pre-Med) http://sites.psu.edu/pimumu/ Omega Chi Epsilon (Chemical Engineering) https://sites.google.com/a/psu.edu/oxe/ Alpha Kappa Delta (Sociology) http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/akd/
Ski Club
Love the snow? Then Ski Club is for you! Ski Club is open to both skiers and snowboarders and to those who have no previous experience. You are able to rent equipment and take lessons at any mountain they go to. The club does mostly weekend trip to places in the northeast, such as Vermont and Maine. But, twice a year they offer two major trips during winter and spring break in which they travel to Canada or somewhere out west like Utah, Wyoming or wherever the club ends up choosing. Other than skiing, the club offers its members lots of social activities such as involvement in THON, snow tubing, a hayride and much more! For more information visit: http://www.psuskiers.com/
Penn State offers tons of other sports and physical activity clubs if skiing isn’t for you. Here are just a few examples: Crew http://pennstatecrew.org/ Paintball http://sites.psu.edu/clubsports/clubs/paintball/ Nittany Divers Scuba Club http://www.nittanydivers.org/
Best Buddies
Best Buddies is a service club that many students may not know is active here at Penn State. The mission statement of Best Buddies is “…to enhance the lives of people with intellectual disabilities by providing opportunities for one-to-one friendships and integrated employment.” More specifically, when you join Best Buddies you become one of the two types of buddies. The first type of buddy is an associate buddy; this type of buddy attends the meetings that they are able to. Or you can become a peer buddy and be matched up with your own one-on-one buddy. If you decide to be a peer buddy, you will attend monthly meetings where you will work on crafts and attend monthly outings with your buddy. Like Best Buddies website says, “The next friend you make, could be your Best Buddy…” For more information visit: http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/bestbuddies
If Best Buddies isn’t for you, check out these other service clubs: Student Red Cross Club http://www.psuredcross.org/ Adopt A School http://psuadoptaschool.weebly.com/ Penn State Global Brigades http://psuglobalbrigades.weebly.com/
If you are inspired to learn about more clubs and organizations specific to Penn State, feel free to browse through the student organization directory that lists more than 1,200 Univeristy-wide student activities http://studentaffairs.psu.edu/hub/studentorgs/orgdirectory/
My final advice is that an extracurricular can be a club you meet with once a week or a group that you work worth everyday. Being involved is as much or as little as you want! Don’t be afraid to go outside your comfort zone and join something you have never done before. As Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Do one thing everyday that scares you.”
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