A first-time transfer student from Clovis Community College (CCC), Adrianne Datiles was on the hunt for ways to ingrain himself in the Fresno State community.
There seemed to be no better place than visiting Traditions Day at Fresno State University Student Union’s balcony on Aug. 28, to cater to his areas of interest and allow him a way to connect with other students who share his plethora of interests.
As a biology major, Datiles wants to participate in pre-medicine organizations, but there are more areas of interest he wants to delve into. Not only is he a STEM major, he is a Filipino, a former Associated Students, Inc. member at CCC, an avid player of “Dungeons and Dragons” and an anime enthusiast.
“I come from Clovis Community College, where I was part of student government there, and I knew basically everyone. I knew students. I knew the entire staff; and it was a great experience,” Datiles said. “Now I’ve come to a university, and I don’t know anyone here so I am trying to make roots and get to know people and get to know more about the campus.”
Datiles found one community in the Magkaisa Filipino club, where club president Abbygail de Castro, event coordinator Ricky Ortiz and secretary Derick Cabanag, all eagerly greeted visiting students. Their table was littered with candy and keychains, but the main attraction was a 7 foot “spirit trophy.”
“We try to promote Filipino culture through friendship,” de Castro said. “Our focus is to fortify our culture through events and our big-little program within the club.”
On top of the large array of cultural and hobby clubs, there are also many major and career-specific clubs that students can join. Among these are the Hispanic Business Student Association (HBSA) and the Early Childhood Education and Development club (ECED).
President of HBSA Ivette Palacios highlighted her club as being open to anyone, no matter their race or major.
“We are focused on professional development within our members, so we host a lot of workshops where students are connected with a professional within the industry they want to go into,” Palacios said. “We have internship opportunities, and we do a lot of events throughout the year, like corporate mixers.”
The ECED club was also open to people from all majors. Moving into its third year of existence, the club’s goal remains firm in attracting people who enjoy interacting with kids and helping students make connections with professionals through their “Panels and Pizza” event.
“We’re really just looking for people to have fun and to kinda share their experience with us,” club president Victoria Bodine said.
Fresno State Student Involvement began planning for Traditions Day over summer break. The event was created to display the many clubs and organizations at Fresno State. Of the 323 clubs and organizations at the university, 100 participated in Traditions Day this fall semester.
“We are just trying to showcase, especially for our new students, what Fresno State is, how to be involved at Fresno State and what being a Bulldog is like,” representative from Student Involvement Maddie Milliorn said.
With the multitude of clubs at the event, a few students, like freshmen Jasleen Gill, Hayley Kumagai and Hallie Gamueda, found themselves signing up for clubs they did not know existed.
“I helped run my feminist club at my high school [University High School], so the Women’s Alliance club was exciting to find,” said Gill, a political science major.
Both Kumagai, a mechanical engineer major, and Gamueda, a nursing major, decided to sign up for the Women’s Alliance, despite it not being one of the initial clubs for which they had been looking for.