El Vaquero, CA
Oct 7 2006

Club Rush Week Introduces Students to New Clubs
By VARTANOOSH KIOURKTZIAN
El Vaquero Staff Writer

October 06, 2006

Balloons, cookies, posters and Smoosh balls kicked off the beginning
of Club Rush Week, which started Oct. 2.
During Club Rush, many clubs on campus set up tables to get new
members. Many of them put up posters and gave out candy and muffins.
Some club members approached students and enticed them to sign up by
offering freebies. For instance, Game Club member Rodney Shaghoulian
promised free cupcakes to anyone who signed up. The Persian Club
played music and sold T-shirts as a way to raise funds and at the
same time attract new members.

For many clubs, it is important to recruit new members for reasons
such as funding. Robert Cannon, president of the Debate Club, said
that new members are important because the administration did not
award as much as they had requested because of low membership.

"We are very successful," Cannon said. "We got third place at the
four-year nationals, but we need to boost our numbers so we can get
more funding. The more people we have, the more talent we have for
our team."

Andrey Seas, Vice President of the Game Club, saw Club Rush as a way
to bring people that have similar interests together.

"Many students might not be aware of all the others on campus who
share common ground with them," said Seas. "My job is to network and
bring people together, to provide a new venue for people to meet each
other through the games we play."

The Korean Christian Club uses club rush as a way to bring Christian
students together. Vice President Jin Kim said "the club is open to
all and any student who wants to worship."

Some clubs use the week to raise awareness for a cause. The Justice
Coalition hosted a film, "A Soldier’s Refusal to Wage War: The Case
of Conscientious Objector U.S. Army 1st Lt. Eheren Watada" on Oct. 3
followed by a discussion with Lt. Watada’s father, Bob Watada, to
raise awareness for the lieutenant’s case. He is currently being
prosecuted because of his refusal to go to war.

Armenian Student Association (ASA) member Sevada Simounian said that
Club Rush is important because it raises awareness for the club.

"GCC boasts the largest population of Armenians on a school campus,"
said Simounian. "If everyone joined and gave five dollars, we could
have enough money to send to Armenia to help students there. We’re a
nonprofit organization so whatever money we raise goes to help out
others."

According to Simounian, ASA raised enough money a year ago to bring
His Holiness Aram I, the leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church, to
GCC.