By Christian Ley

More than 70 Student clubs took part in the Club and Organizations Expo tradition, lining Alumni lane with information on activities and events. No matter what you are interested in, whether it be sports, animals, arts and crafts, theatre, science, or media, DelVal has the club for you. Being a part of a club here at Del Val is a very cool way to be a part of the school community; it is also good way to make connections and make new friends if you are a new student or a current attendee. If you weren’t able to attend the Club and Organizations Expo and you would like to join a club or just check one out to see if it is a good fit for you, you can learn more here.

Here are three of the clubs to consider:

American Association of Zookeepers Club

Want to learn about what goes on behind the scenes at a zoo?

Then Del Val’s American Association of Zookeepers club is for you. This past week at Del Val’s Club and Organization Expo, I interviewed club president Sarah Ludemann about what the club is, what the club does, and what they would tell a student if they wanted to join. 

When I asked Ludemann about what the club was she said, “Our club is all about making connections in the zoo field and helping our members get out there and get their foot in the door if the want to have a career in a zoo through talks with guest speakers and getting people to know what they want to do in zoos”

“We take a trip every semester to a zoo or aquarium,” Ludemann said. “Usually we try to arrange talks with keepers at those zoos, and we try to swing behind the scenes tours if we can swing that,”

They club also hosts in-person meetings where they will have speakers come in and present.

“We also do trips down to south campus at Del Val to learn in person about the animals and how experience with any animal is good experience, we are also are trying to organize things like Bowling For Rhinos which AAZK national does for rhino conservation” So obviously no shortage of activities to look forward to in this club. 

When asked what would you want to say to any student who wants to join your club. Ludemann said, “You don’t need any experience and you really don’t even need to want to work in a zoo to come here, a lot of people that are part of this club just really enjoy the space and getting to talk about zoos and go on trips to them, so if people are interested its always best to come to one meeting”

So, if learning about zoos and how they work is your thing or if you just want to come and talk about animals. AAZK is the place to come learn and have a wild time.

Del Val Drama Club

Ever wanted to be in musicals or plays? Ever wanted to learn what stage crews actually do? Where better to learn then the Delaware Valley University Drama Club. At this past week’s Club and Organizations Expo, I got a chance to catch up with the president of the Drama Club Abigail McCoy.

During the interview, I asked Abigail what their club was all about, and she explained to me that whether it be musicals or plays, Drama club does it, they also have their typical meetings during the week.

“We like to expand people’s knowledge on theatre” – Abigail McCoy,” she said. The club likes to build props and scenery, and it really helps to establish make the meetings more fun and helps build more of a sense of community in the club and helps with networking.

The club offers events and outreach off campus and productions here at school; in fact they are doing a musical this semester called “A Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals” and they also have a murder mystery play this semester. In the spring, they have another performance that they will be performing at the school. The club is still expanding and this year they are starting to reach out to the public.

Abigail stated that she would tell any student who wanted to join drama club to “Give it a try, because we do try to make this a nice community for everyone” she said. “It is much different than your typical academic club; it’s nice to have this community of people who share the love of theatre, and it’s not just people who are acting but we do a lot of stage crew stuff as well.”

So, if you are an actor looking to get back on stage or just want to make props and be part of stage crew. Then Drama Club is for you, and as they say in the theatre, “On with the show!”

Sisters In S.T.E.M. Club

The final interview I did at the Clubs and Organizations expo was with Abigayle Hartzel of “Sisters In Stem”.

During my talk with Abigayle, I first asked what Sisters In Stem is all about. Abigayle informed me that Sisters In Stem does a lot of experiments in their club and they do a lot of public outreach. She also mentioned to me that their main goal is to uplift women and to get women more of a representation in the S.T.E.M. community. 

Abygayle said they do a lot of work with the girl scouts and she mentioned, “Last year we helped the girl scouts earn their “Citizen Scientist” badge and this fall we are going to help them earn their “Think Like an Engineer” badge, we also help them with going on hikes and nature walks as well.”

She also mentioned that they do outreach in the Doylestown community at a domestic violence shelter to help uplift women.

“Anyone is welcome to join, you don’t have to be a women, as long as you want to support our cause and help us fight for equality in our fields of science” she said.