Members of the Formula SAE team show off their car and attract new members during the fall 2016 involvement fair. Formula SAE is one of the hundreds of interesting clubs that students can join. (Amar Batra/The Daily Campus)
Ever wondered what it’s like to jump out of a plane from thousands of feet in the sky? To build a racecar from scratch and race it competitively? Or help welcome students from across the world into Husky Nation while also learning about cultures other than our own?
UConn students have succeeded in answering these questions and many more through the various clubs and extracurricular activities offered across campus. UConn currently offers over 350 clubs and activities sure to intrigue gamers, dancers and food junkies alike.
UConn Formula SAE Racing Team (Sports/Engineering)
UConn FSAE is a collegiate team that works together to design, build and compete an open wheeled, formula-style race car. The team is composed of students representing a variety of majors. UConn FSAE has brought their car as far as the Michigan FSAE competition where, in 2017, UConn’s car was named the fastest car without an aerodynamic package.
“[The club] provides an unmatched, real-world, learning opportunity to all its members. It requires us to do everything from managing a team to marketing, fabrication, design, driver training and much more. Simply put, it’s the best experience short of working in the automotive industry a young student could hope for,” said Pauline Menoret, a fifth semester mechanical engineering major and Formula SAE club president.
UConn Skydiving (Sports/Recreation)
The UConn Skydiving club jumps out of planes both for fun and competitively. Returning members can work on their skydiving skills in the club or competitive atmospheres and new members learn how to skydive.
“Skydiving helps you push yourself beyond what you thought you could do. Everything tells you to stop but you jump anyways and it’s exhilarating that way. Every student should try it; it makes you way cooler than all your friends,” said Steph Krar, a fifth semester biological sciences major and club president.
Unified Theater (Arts)
Unified Theater is part of a larger national organization which works hard to enforce inclusion in the performing arts. The organization works with students from the S.T.A.A.R. program, which is a local program for students with disabilities between ages 18-21. Every week, Unified Theater visits their classroom for rehearsals. Every week they play acting games and collaborate on an original play.
“The amazing world of theater and the arts in general should never be confined to a select bubble of people. The arts are for everyone and I love being part of a club that enforces this kind of inclusion. I love being able to get to know and befriend these students who I probably would have never met without this organization. I can’t wait to start again this fall,” said Rachel Nadell, a third semester human development and family studies major and club president.
Huskies International (Cultural)
Huskies International brings together UConn Huskies representing countries all across the world. Through this club, students who are native to the United States help international students acquaint themselves not only with UConn’s campus, but with iconic places (within travel distance) in our country. Huskies International is “the interaction between UConn students and international students,” according to club secretary and third semester English major Alexis Angelini.
“The club is not limited to just students from abroad so they have the opportunity to make friends and connections! It’s so fun and everyone on campus should definitely attend a meeting or low-cost trip!” said Angelini.
UConn’s annual Student Involvement Fair is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017 from 2-7 p.m. along Fairfield Way.
Lucille Littlefield is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at lucille.littlefield@uconn.edu.
