With the only three members needed and a simple registration process through SOFO, it’s no surprise that there’s an abundance of student groups on campus. From the religious oriented to community focused to sports related, it seems there is a club for just about everyone. But so many fly under the radar of CU’s large student body. Here are five hidden gems worth checking out:
1. Badminton Club at CU
While hugely popular in other parts of the world, badminton is a rarely played sport here in the US, more often seen at backyard BBQs than on ESPN.
In order to share this sport with the CU community, Chern-Hooi Lin, a 25-year-old PHD candidate in chemical engineering, founded the badminton club last January.
“My passion has been badminton,” Lin said. “Originally I’m from Malaysia, and Malaysia is top of the world for badminton… When I came to Colorado to do graduate school there was no club, so I wanted to promote the sport in Colorado.”
The group, now 7 members strong, meets every week to play friendly games and improve their badminton skills. Lin himself is a competitive player, traveling all over the nation for collegiate tournaments. Other members sometimes compete in local tournaments, but all skill levels are welcome, only an interest in the sport is required for this fun and active club.
2. AMuse
If you have a passion for writing, but no one to share it with, AMuse is the club for you. AMuse, founded by Catherine Alva, a 21-year-old junior and chemistry major, is an outlet for the creative writers of CU to work on their writing and share it with others.
“I really wanted something that was just about creative writing, to develop fiction writer’s skills before they try to go out and get their things published,” Alva said. “Just because it’s really nice for creative writers to have feedback on their work before they try to publish it.”
The group, which has been on campus for two years, meets every Wednesday at 5 p.m.. The focus of the meetings is for members to participate in workshops and writing activities to improve their skills, as well as get feedback on projects they’re working on.
The group is also looking to aggregate members for work for publishing this spring, so be on the lookout for an AMuse publication.
3. Underwater Hockey Club
This club takes a sport normally reserved for the ice rink and throws it at the bottom of the Rec Center pool. Every Friday night at 8 p.m. the group meets to scrimmage and practice hockey — under water.
“It’s basically hockey,” said member Jesse Allison-Carpenter, a 24-year-old junior and electrical engineering major. “You play with a snorkel and mask so you can watch the play and take a breath, but when you actually go for the puck, you go underwater.”
The group has been around for around five years and has seen a resurgence in interest this past year. Attendance ranges from six to 20 people at any given practice, but only six can play at a time.
Jesse said he joined the group one night on a whim and has played ever since.
“I just went for a swim, and they were like ‘come play’ and I love it, its awesome,” Allison-Carpenter said. “It’s a crazy sport because you play in the 3-dimensions.”
Anyone can join the underwater hockey club, and three-fourths of every practice is a fun scrimmage. The only requirement is a bathing suit, and as Allison-Carpenter said, “knowing how to swim helps.”
4. Buff Bow-Tie Bunch
Campus could use a make-over, and could benefit from wearing more bow-ties, according to the Buff Bow-Tie Bunch.
Reed Chervin the founder and chairman of the Buff Bow Tie Bunch. (Courtesy Reed Chervin)
This club is one of the newer ones on campus, and one of the more unique, as the 20 active members work to promote bow-tie use on campus.
“I think the idea is just to have a elevated level of dressing-up on campus,” said member Reed Chervin, 20-year-old junior and Chinese major. “I think a lot of members in the club get sick of seeing sweat pants at classes. Its just to formalize campus a little bit, and bow-ties are a unique way to do that.”
The group meets monthly, and while formally dressed, is informal during their meetings, often going as a group to a campus function or just grabbing a bite to eat on the Hill.
This group is open to all bow-tie enthusiasts, girls included. Next time you see someone wearing a bow-tie on campus, go ask them about it. They just may be one of the Buff Bow-Tie Bunch.
5. The Hip-Hop Congress
Hip-hop is more than just music, it’s a whole culture. The CU chapter of Hip-Hop Congress aims to highlight both the music and culture, and the positive sides of a once highly controversial genre of music.
The purpose of Hip-Hop Congress is to use hip hop as a positive tool to bring together communities of different backgrounds in order to progress as a whole,” said member Daniel Paiz. “Hip-hop is always portrayed in such a negative light, and there are so many people doing all kinds of great social work via hip-hop.”
The 10-15 members try to meet every Thursday at 5 p.m. in the UMC but that can vary, and each meeting is spent learning a bit about the hip-hop lifestyle.
“Other students can gain what they put into it; if they want to learn how to rap, graffiti, dance, deejay, that’s on them,” Paiz said. “The purpose of this group is to build community, and you do that by putting in what you want out of it.”
Since the commitment is on the members, anyone can join or just stop by a meeting to learn more. Paiz said the only requirement is wanting to “make hip-hop a louder part of this campus.”
For a full list of CU’s Student Groups, click here.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Isa Jones at Alexandra.i.jones@colorado.edu.
