NYU Shanghai Club Fest

On February 17th, the NYU Shanghai Student Involvement Office invited the student body to participate in the inaugural Club Fest of the 2014 spring semester. All of the University’s 25 clubs were created last semester under a New Club Development (NCD) program, which was led by NYU Shanghai’s newly established student government. These clubs were created in nine main categories: Arts, Performance and Media; Sports; Cultural; Identity-based; Issue-based; Literary; Professional; Service and Volunteer; and Speech and Debate.

One theme that connects many of the clubs is breaking down cultural barriers by integrating people who come from different cultural backgrounds, but share the same interests.  Local Shanghainese student Jiachen Gong (George) founded the Shanghai Club.  George plans to offer a Shanghainese dialect class during the spring semester and lead a few Shanghai explorations.  He hopes that these activities will help international students gain a better understanding of the city as well as Chinese culture. Saphya Council, a freshman from New York City, expressed her interest in the clubs, “All of them looked so interesting that I wanted to sign up for everything!” By joining a variety of clubs, students not only develop their own interests, but also help to shape the community of NYU Shanghai.

Full club list:

1. Arts, Performance and Media
   Anime, Comics and Games (ACG)
   The Artist’s Guild
   Filmopolis
   The Other Octaves
   Singers, Producers, Songwriters, Musicians (SPSM)
   Thespians
   Xiao Long Shakers
    
2. Club Sports
   Badminton Insanity
   Solar Alpha Soccer
   Tennis Club
   Volleyball Club
    
3. Cultural
   HOW it tastes
   International Cultural Exchange (ICE)
   Shanghainese and Shanghai Exploration
    
4. Identity-Based
   LGBTQ@NYUSH
    
5. Issue-Based
   Green Shanghai
    
6. Literary
   Book Friends
    
7. Professional
   Investment Analyst Group
   Mirae Assets
   Startup Shanghai
   Stern Political Economy Exchange (SPEX)
   Undergraduate Business Association (UBA)
    
8. Service/ Volunteer
   China Care Club
    
9. Speech and Debate
   The Collective Voice – More Than Debate
   Model United Nations

Written by Ziqing Chen. Photo Credit: Ziqing Chen.