Selling stickers. Examining blood splatters. Building cars.
There are well over a hundred different clubs that students are able to join on campus. While they all deserve to be talked about, a few can stick out for students. Here are just a few clubs that students at Colorado Mesa University (CMU) can join.
Forensic Science Club
The Forensic Science club offers speakers, simulations, and interesting discussions for members.
“We have speakers who are in the field come and talk about what they do on a daily basis, and what education they had to get where they’re at,” club President Emily Fox said.
Besides speakers, the club also tries to be hands-on so that members can get experience with various things, such as simulating blood spatters in the chemistry lab.
One of the main events for the club is going to the American Academy of Forensic Science meeting, which will be held in February 2022 in Seattle. There, professionals gather and talk about what they’re doing in the forensic science field.
“We’ve had a lot of people that are interested in forensic psychology come and talk to us, and we’re really good about getting forensic psychologists to come and talk. We’re good about getting those niches,” Fox said.
The club meets on Tuesdays at 6 in Dominguez 315.
Motorsports
The Mesa Motorsports club is looking for those interested in business, engineering, manufacturing and welding.
“We’re basically a club that designs, manufactures, and builds a formula-style race car from the ground up,” Team Captain Quintin Kurtz said. “Every year we start with preliminary designs that go into final designs; we manufacture all the parts ourselves, and we put together a racecar and go out to Michigan for a few different events.”
The main event they go to is called the Formula SAE Michigan in May, put on by the Society of Automotive Engineers. There, they race over 150 different teams at the Michigan International Speedway.
“80% of what you see is designed and built by the team,” Kurtz said of their built car.
A few sponsors donate other parts.
The club has around 20 active members, and are shooting for 40 or 50. They meet __
Gems
G.E.M.S, or Graduate Education in Medical Sciences, is one of the bigger clubs on campus, that encompasses students who are pursuing medical-related fields after college.
“Our goal is to really help people interested in going to med school, physician’s assistant school, physical therapy school, all of those, kind of build their resume to get through those graduate programs,” G.E.M.S President Hailey Johnson said.
The club meets representatives from other schools, conducts Q&A’s with medical professionals and more.
“We do volunteer opportunities to help people get volunteer hours, we do a personal statement workshop each year, we help with application processes and all of that,” Johnson said.
They meet biweekly on Wednesdays at 6 p.m.
Cybersecurity
Regardless of experience and background knowledge, CMU’s cybersecurity club is open to those who are interested in all things related to cyberspace and security.
We are attending the National Cyber League this year, as well as the Rrocky Mountain Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition. That’s our end goal, that’s what we’re preparing for,” Vice President Sully Frazier said.
Many who join are interested or majoring in computer science – however, that is not necessarily a requirement.
“The Cyber Defense Competition is a competition at the collegiate level that does things like ‘hack the box,’ encryptions, [and] data monitoring,” Frazier said. “The idea is that scouts for bigger companies attend and see if there’s students they could hire.”
They meet every week on Monday at 4 p.m in Wubben 118.
Animation, Motion Design and Photography
The AMP club works on non-class projects for those interested in those or related fields.
“We work on projects together, we go to film festivals together, and we’re getting ready for Artober,” President Shelby Edens said.
At Artober, an event put on in mid-October by the Art Department, students part of the AMP club can sell their artwork such as stickers or t-shirts.
“We’re having little film showings, we help out with the [437CO] Art Gallery, we’re having an artist talk at the gallery in December,” Edens said.
The AMP club meets twice a month.