Freshman recharters club
By LAUREN DAKE
The Off Campus Student Association is back at Santa Clara with the help of freshman Renee Morrell.
Previously, the club died due to a lack of interest. Inspired by Freshman Summer Orientation and Welcome Weekend, Morrell felt there was a need to restart the club. She was elected president and has been working with Associated Students of Santa Clara University to get OCSA up and running again.
"During Welcome Weekend, my commuter friends and I realized that we felt like outsiders à we did not feel like an integral part of the university," Morell said. "I became passionate about the need for commuters to be and feel involved in the SCU community, and this is why I decided to start the club."
The club is centered on off-campus students but anyone interested is allowed to be a part of it."Any student can join the club," Morell said. "Even though we are a club which focuses on off-campus students, on campus students are totally welcome to join us as well. We want to help break any barriers which separate on-campus students from off-campus students."
Each member brings a different goal and outlook to the club. OCSA Treasurer Daniel Pinna wasn't as worried about making new friends, but was concerned with helping others do so.
"Having gone to Bellarmine, and having lots of my friends come to SCU with me, getting to know people around campus wasn't a hard thing for me to do," Pinna said. "I joined the club to really help the incoming freshmen next year, and the current freshmen this year feel a part of the community and get to know everyone and make the campus feel like it is theirs."
The Off Campus Student Association is a social club that plans outings such as ice skating and going to the beach with its members. It is about more than just having fun though. Club members are striving to incorporate community service projects into the agenda. Overall, the hope is to encourage the commuter students to take an active role in the college scene.
"Having social activities is a great way for commuters to meet people and feel like a part of the community," Morrell said. "Our last club activity was a success. We went ice skating in the outdoor rink of downtown San Jose."
There are many more activities the club would like to participate in. Participants would like to be involved in Freshman Orientation and Welcome Weekend to help freshman commuters to feel like an integral part of the community from the very start of their college careers. Community service is also a goal of the OCSA.
The Off Campus Student Association currently has over 30 members, but those numbers are increasing. The group has been meeting informally in Shapell Lounge on alternating meeting days and times as the club tries to accommodate everyone's schedules. An OCSA bulletin board is located in Shapell Lounge with information on schedules of meetings and events.