A New Year and new semester come with the opportunity for students to try new things and socialize. With the student population at Humber growing and nearing 30,000, the popularity of student-run clubs is on the rise.
The clubs at Humber cover a variety of interests from video games and movies to freestyle rap and dance.
“In the fall 2018 semester we had 48 new club applications submitted. At this time IGNITE doesn’t have a cap for how many clubs we can accommodate,” said Kristine Galvan, Ignite’s Leadership Coordinator. “We approved all but three of those clubs. Some were duplicates of the same theme or didn’t have enough information.”
Students can also apply to start new clubs and receive funding through Humber Ignite Student Services. Ignite provides a handbook for students looking to potentially start a new club to read in order to make sure the club will be inclusive and is able to stay within the school’s funding limit. Each club is eligible for up to $1,000 from the school as start-up money. Students who want to start a club also need to take part in a club training meeting.
“I think its great that the school really helps students start up their clubs,” says first year student Gabriella Torres. “I could see how that would be difficult to do on your own.”
The positive outlook seems to reflect the increasing number of people joining the variety of clubs on campus.
“Statistically the number of applications is steady year by year, but they are more active and new students seem to seek clubs more and more. The number of club members continues to grow,” said Galvan. “To apply each club must have minimum 10 student members, and some clubs have grown to the hundreds now between North/GH and Lakeshore campuses.”
If a student is interested in starting a club at Humber they can complete the Clubs Application Form on the Ignite website.