Rosemary Chesney, Campus Carrier arts and living editor

Across Berry’s campus, there are over 60 student organizations ranging from religious groups, such as Campus Outreach, to department groups, such as the Forensics club. Berry welcomed three new clubs onto campus this semester: Berry Brotherhood, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) and Yarn from the Heart.

Cecily Crowe, Director of Student Activities, said there are two types of clubs on campus: student organization and student interest clubs. Student organizations, which make up most clubs, must contain at least 10 members, a constitution, and are eligible to receive funding and host events. Student interest clubs do not host events or receive funding and only require five members. Crowe oversees all student organizations and student interest groups and is going on her 21st year as Director of Student Activities.

“Clubs and organizations provide opportunities for students to continue or pursue new interests,” Crowe said. “Whether you’re a freshman looking for a place to belong or a senior wrapping up things, I think organizations provide a variety of outlets for the Berry community.”

The AAPI group started off as a student interest group last January. Sophomore Hannah Blanton, president of the AAPI club, said the group worked all last semester to transition into a student organization. The group finally gained organization status at the end of last semester.

“It’s cool just to have a space on campus where we can teach other people about our culture and also bring a bit of home to campus,” Blanton said. “I think it’s just a good safe space to have on campus to discuss if anything bad does happen but also just celebrating a culture that people might not be familiar with.”

According to Blanton, the club organized a Lunar New Year and Holi Celebration last semester. They plan to host a Diwali Celebration, Mid-Autumn Moon Festival and Lantern festival this semester as well as hosting a few conversations about what it means to be an Asian American. Blanton said the club currently contains about 20 members, and she hopes to expand this semester.

“Our vision is to bring awareness, celebration and a sense of community to Berry,” Blanton said. “We are basically wanting to create a safe community for people that identify as Asian American or anyone who is interested in learning about Asian Americanculture.”

Another club that recently gained student organization status is the Berry Brotherhood. Junior psych major William Taylor, along with TJ Watkins and Jamal Ware, founded this club to create a safe community for African American students at Berry. While the club currently only contains the leadership staff, Taylor said he hopes to grow into one of the largest clubs on campus.

“I was approached by Haley Smith, the Director of Student Diversity Initiatives because she saw how passionate I am about the black community,” Taylor said. “I saw a lot of clubs on campus for people of color but none just for men. The goal of the club is to create a unified sense of community for the men of color at Berry.”

Berry’s newest student interest group, Yarn from the Heart, was formed for students to knit or crochet clothing items that can be donated to homeless people across Rome. Juniors Victoria Conn and Madeline Phillips said they came up with the idea a year ago and spent last year teaching themselves how to make clothing before officially forming the club.

“Our schedules are so busy so we wanted to do something where we could help out the community but do it on our own time,” Conn said. “Last winter, I saw some of these homeless individuals in Rome and realized if there was something I could do to help them out, it was part of my responsibility to do that.”

According to Conn and Phillips, students can gain service hours from participating by submitting an article of clothing and logging how many hours it took to make it. The clothing items will not only be donated to the Rome community, but also shipped to a nonprofit organization in Texas called One Up America who will spread it to people in need across America.