During the fall semester, Kent State registered more than 50 new organizations. They varied from academic, to rights action groups, to religious affiliated organizations, sports and more.

Katie Goldring, the assistant director of Center for Student Involvement (CSI), believes student organizations are incredibly important to the college experience.

“The new groups are really an eclectic mix this year,” Goldring said. “But it does speak to the great students we have at Kent State and what a wide variety of interests they hold.”

The new organizations include the Motorcycle Club, Nintendo Club and the Foam Fighting Society.

Another is Lumos Flashes, which is the Kent State Chapter of The Harry Potter Alliance (HPA). The chapter focuses on using fandoms to fight social injustice as well as raising awareness for local and national non-profits.

During Lumos Flashes’ first semester at Kent, the chapter raised over $200 for This Star Won’t Go Out, which is an organization that helps provide financial support to families of children living with cancer.

Carolyn Matovina, a senior special education student and president of Lumos Flashes, has always loved Harry Potter and has a passion for helping others.

“Our overall goal for the organization is to build a community of people who love to geek out over their passions and use those passions to create change,” Matovina said.

Lumos Flashes currently meets twice a month and is always accepting new members. 

Julie Norton, a sophomore marketing major and president of the Figure Skating Club, took the initiative to add the club this semester, which includes 15 members and is non-competitive.

The club takes in all levels of skaters to teach the art of synchronized skating. The team performs at hockey games and local shows.

Julie has been skating since she was four years old and hopes the team will grow into a competitive club-level team in the years following.

“We divide practices into two sections: teaching basics and more intense skills,” Norton said. “We really do take everyone even if you are at a basic level.”

Vocal Intensity, a new a cappella group, arrived this semester at Kent State. Currently including six members, the group sings covers of songs that are in movies or on the radio.  

Jonathan Natola, a freshman digital sciences major, created Vocal Intensity after noticing how many people were auditioning for other groups and he realized there was potential for expansion.

The group holds auditions at the beginning of each semester and is always looking for new singers who want to become part of a singing family.

A battle robot team called Xtreme Bots at Kent State is another new group registered this semester, where the 12 members prepare for two semesters to compete in a competition where robots battle one another.

President Maddie Wilson, a sophomore applied engineering major, started the robotics club to help prepare for the team’s future careers.

“We are all on the same team, everyone is in charge at the same level,” Wilson said. “This is how we will work in real life later on, as a team, this is preparing us for that.”

The team has two female members, which Wilson says is a big statement for a robotics team.

They are building twin robots this semester to take to a competition in Dayton. This will take two controllers, two drivers and will include much more practice than a normal robot.

Ohio State is a big rival when it comes to robot battles, but Kent is hoping to be victorious in April.

To become a registered organization at Kent, the organization must have at least five officers who are all enrolled in at least eight undergraduate credit hours or six graduate credit hours. The students must all maintain a 2.25 cumulative GPA and have passed six credit hours in the proceeding semester.

The organization also needs an advisor that is a full-time or part-time university employee to oversee and take responsibility for the organization. If an organization meets all criteria and is approved by CSI, they are an official Kent State organization.

For more information about student organizations that already exist, or how to start an organization at Kent, visit www.kent.edu/csi/student-organizations. 

Weslee Clyde is the student life reporter for The Kent Stater. Contact him at [email protected].