At every college, clubs are an integral part of student life and the undergraduate experience. In that regard, Swarthmore is no different. Every year on Magill Walk, Swarthmore hosts its annual Club Fair, in which some 200 student clubs set up their little booths and try to recruit new members for their club. Signing up for a new club is typically pretty straightforward: you just give your college email address to the club and you either join there immediately or they will send an interview time to admit you. Most clubs and affinity groups go with the first approach, but some of the bigger ones have to set interviews for filling up their member slots.
You may have noticed that in the sign-up process there, I did not mention anything about membership fees. That is because Swarthmore’s commitment to a cash-free campus extends to clubs as well: this year, the college awarded around $600,000 for clubs and student-run organizations. The budget is allocated to individual clubs by SGO, the Student Government Organization, and its financial wing, The Student Budgetary Committee (SBC). Chartering new clubs is also a pretty straightforward process and you can start your own club and file a request for funding from the SBC.
The first club that I signed up for here was i20, which is the main club for international students. I signed up for it right after I arrived on campus at international student orientation, where I met some my first and best friends here at Swarthmore. i20 is the largest club on campus since almost all international students are a member of it, representing over 16% of the student body. The club has its own space in the Intercultural Center, and hosts lots of fun events throughout the year, such as weekly i20 dinners, the Fall Feast, catering over Fall and Spring breaks (since the dining hall is closed and many international students stay on campus over that period), and celebrating cultural festivities of students from countries all around the world. The club also assists international students with things like getting social security numbers, helping with taxes, and scheduling state ID trips. The i20 club and the international student center have both been incredibly helpful for me with my transition to college and studying abroad.
The second club that I signed up for was the Swarthmore College Computer Society, or SCCS for short, which is a volunteer student collective which maintains digital services for students, staff and alumni. The club started in 1992 when a group of students connected Dana and Hallowell with internet cables, creating the first network on campus. They are one of the longest-chartered students group still on campus and offer practical system administration and software skills to their members. Some of the cool popular projects that they have done are Cygnet, which is a student directory searchable by name, class year and dorm, the Airpool, which helps students organize carpools to the Philadelphia international airport, and Mailing list services which are used by many groups and clubs on campus.
There are also some sports clubs on campus which give you PE credits once you sign up and remain an active member. They are typically open to all students, both experienced and beginners, offer training and equipment, and also compete with other colleges and universities. Some of the clubs are the Men’s Rugby club, Swarthmore Fencing Club, and the MOTHERPUCKERS, Swarthmore’s only ice hockey club. These clubs either typically have their own athletic spaces on campus or get funding to take students to practice, like the latter which takes students to the Springfield Ice Rink every week.
These are only a few of the hundreds of clubs available for Swarthmore students. You can check the most recent list of clubs here. And remember that if you didn’t find the club of your interest, you can always be the first to start it!
