Wednesday, August 27, 2014 | The Independent Collegian | 3

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IN BRIEF

UT to hire admission ambassadors

The University of Toledo is looking to hire new students this fall.

UT’s Office of Un-dergraduate Admission is holding auditions for students interested in becoming admission am-bassadors, students who welcome potential stu-dents and their families, give campus tours, help with recruitment events and aid the office with any necessary tasks.

Auditions will take place Aug. 27 at 5 p.m. in the Libbey Hall Dining Room on the second floor. Applications are available at the front desk on the same floor.

The position is paid $8 per hour. Current students are required to have a 2.5 grade point average, and incoming freshmen must have a high school cumulative GPA of 3.0.

For more information, contact Andrea Bishop via email at andrea.bishop2@utoledo.edu.

President’s tailgate tent to be held before UT football game Aug. 30

UT Interim President Nagi Naganathan will be available to interact with students before the UT-New Hampshire football game Saturday, Aug. 30.

The event, organized by the Office of Special Events, will take place outside Rocket Hall from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. Students can also enjoy free food and play games for a chance to win prizes.

For more information, contact Deb Driscoll at Debra.Driscoll@utoledo.edu or call 419-530-5317.

Parking passes to be purchased before Aug. 31

Students, faculty and staff who want parking passes need to purchase them prior to Aug. 31, as the UT Parking Enforce-ment will begin ticketing that day.

The UT Parking Enforcement will use license plate recogni-tion technology, which scans license plates and compares numbers with a database of registered permits, to ticket vehicle violations via email to UT email accounts. If the vehicle has never been registered, a notice will be sent to the mailing address of the registered owner.

Student passes are $125 per semester while employee and affiliate permit prices vary de-pending on eligibility.

Guest passes also are available on a daily basis for $3 per day. These can be secured by visit-ing guestparking.utoledo.edu.

For more information, visit utoledo.edu/parking-services or utoledo.edu/parking/parkingenforce-ment.

Students to go to Cedar Point Sept. 13

The Office of Student Involvement is sponsor-ing a trip to Cedar Point for interested students on Saturday, Sept. 13.

The cost is $20 and includes bus transpor-tation to and from the park, an entrance ticket and bottomless soda.

The bus will leave at 8:30 a.m.

Tickets are available for purchase at the Ask Rocky desk in the Student Union Room 2525.

For more information, contact OSI at 419-530-4944.

Free pizza available to studentsStudents looking for lunch can stop by University Hall Room 3630 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

for a hot slice of pizza Aug. 25- Sept. 5. This opportunity is provided by the University of Toledo as one of the ‘First Weeks’ activities to welcome students for the new semester.

Students Speak

Q: Why join a student organization?

“If there is an organization you are passionate about, you will make time for it. There are always going to be school assignments that need to be done, so it is important to remember that. But, in the long run, you are going to remember all the experiences you had with your student orgs.”

MARISA TOMEICatholic Student Association President

“Joining the UT Bowling Club has given me some of my greatest friendships that I will carry on throughout my bowling career. It has greatly improved my bowling game as well as given me the resources to further develop my skill beyond my college career. I have had the opportunity to travel the nation and bowl with some of the greatest athletes in the world.”

CORY ZALESAKUT Bowling Club Treasurer

“Being involved in a student organization is a great way to make friends with similar interests. In addition, it is a nice break from the rigor of classes. More than just being involved on campus, I recommend that students take the time to become a part of the Toledo community by giving back.”

RACHEL BEESONAdopt-A-Grandparent President

“Student organizations do help with networking and making valuable contacts in a few different ways. They get you comfortable with your peers and upperclassmen. Student organizations also host or are invited to events with professionals with similar passions. On an individual basis, this networking teaches you strong communication skills along with confidence and how to be professional.”

BRIAN WELLMANAmerican Society of Civil Engineers President

STUDENT INVOLVEMENT

Want to get involved?

By Samantha RhodesManaging Editor

What is so important to the University of Toledo that it is given up to $500,000 of the annual budget?

That’s right: student organi-zations.

According to Rudy Taylor, the office of student involve-ment program manager, “the university as a whole would probably implode” without its student organizations.

“We are so dependent upon our student organizations – they are really the backbone of our social structure here on campus,” Taylor said. “We do some things as a depart-ment or division to build up that student life, but the student organizations really are the core of all of it.”

With around 300 cur-rent student organizations, it seems UT has one for just about everything. But Taylor, who is involved with assisting and coordinating all student groups, said new organiza-tions are added “all the time.”

During the academic year, student groups are added nearly every two weeks and Taylor said since the year has started, three or four organi-zations have already applied.

“It just depends on the ebb and flow of the applications,” Taylor said. “It’s a constant process. We’re always fluctu-ating.”

The Office of Student Involvement uses nine cat-egories to organize student organizations: academic, spe-cial interest, Greek, honorary, political, religious, service, sport club and cultural/social organizations.

UT does not create or plan any student orgs by itself: Taylor said these groups are “completely student driven.”

Have an idea for a student org? Taylor urges students to come forward with their ideas and try to form a group.

“Students come up with ideas and they come in with a request to start their organization,” Taylor said. “We ask for 10 members, a constitution, an advisor and a statement of finances, like how they’re going to run their finances.”

Taylor said that because of the number of student org applications, there is even a graduate student who is consistently reviewing con-stitutions and talking back and forth with organizations about what they need to do to get their organization ap-proved and finalized.

What do all these ap-plications say about the UT student body? Taylor is con-vinced it proves UT students are go-getters with ambition.

“If they can’t find what they want, they’re willing to put the work in to make it,” Taylor said. “They’re passion-ate — our students are a very passionate group of people. You see it because they really do take to what they’re doing very, very strongly.”

According to Taylor, the reasons why student orgs are founded vary, but he said many groups simply “wanted to help out.”

One example Taylor mentioned was a new group created last year called, Adopt-A-Grandparent, which aims to “build that long-term relationship with someone who may or may not have someone visiting them fre-quently.”

Rachel Beeson, a fourth-year bioengineering major who is also the president and co-founder of Adopt-A-Grandparent, said the org “seeks to serve Toledo area

senior citizens by visiting local skilled nursing facilities in both group and individual settings.”

“Our goal is to bridge the gap between generations and combat elder loneliness by building relationships,” Beeson said. “We sponsor monthly group events and also pair students with an adopted ‘grandparent.’”

Beeson said that one com-mon excuse students have when deciding not to join an org is that they feel they may not have enough time or they are too busy.

However, most groups, like Adopt-A-Grandparent, are understanding and don’t ask for more than a few hours per week.

“Although we require members to visit their resident twice each month, Adopt-a-Grandparent is an extremely flexible organiza-tion,” Beeson said. “Each member decides when to visit their resident, which makes it possible for even the busiest students to join.”

Acts of kindness set aside, Taylor believes that joining a student org is not only ben-eficial for a student’s college experience — it’s essential.

“Student orgs round out the college experience in a real-life kind of way,” Taylor said. “You could be an amaz-ing student who goes to class everyday and takes your exams and has a 4.0, but if you can’t take that knowledge and apply it to working with others and real world situa-tions, you aren’t as ready for the real world as you need to be.”

In fact, some student trea-surers for student groups ac-count for large budgets, a few almost reaching the $100,000 mark, according to Taylor.

“That’s an experience that’s invaluable when it comes time to find your job,” Taylor said.

Networking, resume building, fundraising and coordinating community outreach events all are skills Taylor said student organiza-tions will provide to their involved members. Plus, he said students involved in extra-curricular activities are usually more productive and efficient than those who have more downtime.

“There’s a reason why people who are busier do better with a lot of their organization,” Taylor said. “The more things you have on your plate —

Everything you need to know about studentgroups on campus.

COURTESY OF RACHEL BEESONKatina St. Pierre and Angelica Ray, both fifth-year bioengineering majors and members of Adopt-A-Grandparent, pose with Minnie Chaney, a 100-year-old resident at The Laurels of Toledo. The women are all taking part in a casino-themed prom at The Laurels, which was sponsored by Adopt-A-Grandparent last April. Adopt-A-Grandparent, a student organization, is one of nearly 300 student groups at UT.

See Student groups / 6 »

“It is easy to get caught up in trying to save the world and forget that change starts in our own backyards. This experience has made me appreciate my youth and all of the things I take for granted like the ability to walk, talk and even remember.”

RACHEL BEESONAdopt-A-Grandparent

President

“They should be able to find something,” Taylor said. “If they can’t, well…let’s get some people together and create an organization.”

RUDY TAYLOROSI Program Manager