The activities at Grinnell are definitely my favorite part of college life. I've joined a few activities this semester: The Scarlet & Black (school newspaper), The B&S (satirical newspaper), Nerf at Noyce, Student Organization of Latinos (SOL), African and Caribbean Student Union (ACSU), and Pioneer Diversity Council (PDC). (One thing I've learnt from all of these is that abbreviations are very important at Grinnell). And I've tried even more: ultimate frisbee, Zumba, salsa, wwing dance, and a few others. We've got all sorts of clubs here to meet myriad interests.
I'm now a part of the SOL cabinet, which keeps me pretty busy. I've even had the chance to start my own club (which keeps me even busier), the League of Amazing Grinnell Gamers (LAGG). We get together every week to play video games, and it's because of this club that I've gotten so much interaction with the Student Government Association (SGA).
Initially I had to interact with the SGA just to get the club started – to find out how feasible the idea was and then, once it was approved, I found myself going to the SGA for help writing a budget and also just to gain insight on what it's like to run a club. In the beginning it was just two of us who organized the club meetings and so I found myself asking the SGA questions almost every day.
One other cool thing that happens at Grinnell is the ExCo, which is short for Experimental College. ExCo is a student-led program that allows one to create, teach or take a class on any topic. Anyone -- including local residents -- can take or teach a class. The topic of the ExCo class I'm taking now is Flirting. We meet every Tuesday for an hour to learn about the in's and out's of flirting – non-verbal and verbal. It's also a lot of fun and a great chance to interact with other students.
It feels really great to be so involved in activities at Grinnell. You get to meet a lot of people and you find out about interests and leadership skills you didn't even know you had. It's a great experience to have, and there's a lot to be learnt from it.
