1. 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 students
Students 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 TOMEI
Catholic 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 ZALESAK
UT 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 BEESON
Adopt-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 WELLMAN
American Society of Civil Engineers President
STUDENT INVOLVEMENT
Want to get
involved?
By Samantha Rhodes
Managing 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 student
groups on campus.
COURTESY OF RACHEL BEESON
Katina 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 BEESON
Adopt-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 TAYLOR
OSI Program Manager