Club Row Gets Marvelous
Loud, upbeat pop music, a variety of carnival-style games, and a peculiar half-dozen Spider-Man and Deadpool doppelgangers greeted students on the Santa Monica College (SMC) quad last Thursday. Although admittedly a confusing sight to the uninformed, it didn’t take long for student representatives to pitch their clubs to those who lingered around for the festivities.
The Inter-Club Council (ICC) held its 97th biannual Club Row event on April 25. For years, Club Row has been a fixture to SMC’s spring and fall semesters as a promotion opportunity for nearly 70 clubs on campus, and as an avenue for students to socialize and have fun.
The significant number of clubs on campus meant competition was fierce. Clubs had to exercise different strategies with their respective booths to entice the most students. While most clubs opted for the tried and tested trio of food, flyers, and freebies, others took a more creative and interactive mindset. The usual suspects took an unusual approach, like the Art Club’s henna tattoo stations, and the Music Club’s live performances; but some STEM clubs also engaged attendees with creative flair.
The Astronomy Club booth was decked out with model rockets and physics devices such as Newton’s Cradle and magnetic levitators, all flanked by rocket standees decorated with photos from the Avengers films.
Kimberly Lopez, Vice President of the Astronomy Club, explained that they were trying to do their best to recruit new members during this Club Row because of their plans to provide more opportunities for their members going forward.
“We’re starting to get internships from JPL [NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory] and other space agencies,” Lopez said. According to the JPL’s website, their internship is a mentoring process wherein “students are partnered with JPL scientists or engineers.”
Lopez went on to point out their club’s “hands-on learning” focus would be a beneficial precursor to the internship process.
A crowd stood at the Robotics Club’s interactive booth and watched two students holding controllers. Eager to get a prize, the duo was intensely focused on trying to stack as many cones as they could with their robots.
Robotics Club President Ebony Warren also said that they were intent on recruiting new members because of their plans to represent SMC in robotics tournaments.
“We’re planning on joining competitions next fall. We’re actually looking for donations to get the parts that we need. We wanna start a university team, we’re just trying to raise the funds for that,” she said.
Despite the effectiveness of these eye-catching attractions, some clubs chose to rely on traditional, active methods of reaching out to the students themselves. One of these clubs was Students Supporting Israel (SSI). SSI members draped in Israeli flags walked along the quad, many holding pro-Israel signs, actively trying to raise awareness for their cause.
SSI Social Media and Marketing Director Abigail Yosian explained their approach to this semester’s Club Row. “We’re engaging people in conversation,” said Yosian. “We’re asking them if they know anything about Israel. We offer a lot of free merchandise with Israeli slogans on them. We offer a lot of pamphlets…we are here to be a pro-Israel voice on campus. We promote peace, we promote coexistence, and we promote unity,” Yosian added.
While the numerous clubs on campus may have taken different approaches, they all shared expressions of gratitude and enjoyment for the ICC’s organization of the event. “It’s really cool to see all the other clubs kind of unite and just show appreciation for your club, and just show awareness of what the clubs are,” Lopez said back at the Astronomy Club.
Nathan Silberberg, the Communications Officer for ICC, was pleased at the event’s boisterous enthusiasm. “It’s been beautiful,” said Silberberg, who had spent most of his morning setting up the event with his fellow ICC officers. “Every club is here representing and I’m so happy."