What Would be your Dream Student Org?

By Madison Dyer

Integrated Spiritual Growth

Matthew Wood

Matthew Wood, a freshman Civil Engineering student, has noticed that most student orgs are restricted to either men or, more often, women. He feels as though this creates just another point where unity among believers is fractured, encouraging unnecessary competition and making people feel as though the separation is necessary for function.

“I feel like there could be better cohesion between men and women [on this campus],” Wood said.

Additionally, he perceived an emphasis on spreading the Gospel from the first few weeks on campus. He also noticed, however, that nobody seemed to be taking tangible action toward that end. Outside of global outreach trips or organized mission trips, students did not seem to be taking the Gospel to their immediate neighbors or even investing in serious evangelism training. He feels that there was just a general inactivity among the student body, especially among other young men. 

Wood sees a future for an org where individuals come together, united by their faith and focus on rigorous, intentional spiritual growth and street evangelism in nearby towns. The group might meet to hear messages from qualified speakers and learn practical methods of sharing the Gospel with strangers.

Christians in Poetry

Rachel Ward

The art of poetry is a time-honored tradition of humanity. Freshman Professional Writing
and Information Design student Rachel Ward writes positive, Christian poetry as a hobby and emotional release. She shares her work on Instagram for a small audience, but has come to desire a more personal workshop community.

Ward wants to pursue kickstarting an org for Christian poets, so that they have a space to get focused feedback. She even considers taking the org members to local poetry slams in the future, which are public, open mic events where writers can recite poetry they have written. 

Her goal in going would be not only to grow more comfortable sharing original writing, but also to share writing which reflects the glory of God in an environment where the most popular type of poetry usually surrounds heartbreak and hopelessness. 

“A lot of poems that are really popular are all breakup poems, and there’s no hope. … I was thinking it’d be really cool to have Christian poets go to those spaces,” Ward said. “[We can] have poetry that can kind of reflect our faith.”

Trebuchet Mischief

Joshua Walenda

Sophomore Theatre Performance major Joshua Walenda has been ruminating on starting a student organization centered on medieval trebuchets. He is completely serious, and would absolutely look into it becoming official if he gathered enough interest and information.

A trebuchet is a variation of a catapult, powered by dropping a heavy object and utilizing the gravitational force to fling something. Possible projectiles include anything from marshmallows to flaming pumpkins, depending on the size of the trebuchet. 

In theory, Walenda claims to be able to build this contraption, however, he admits that he would probably need assistance from an engineering major. Once built, the org members could enter their machine into an official competition, competing against other trebuchet enthusiasts for most accurate aim and farthest launch.

On a smaller scale, members could enjoy crafting miniature trebuchets and amuse themselves by staging itty bitty marshmallow wars. “I’m just imagining a bunch of random people flinging marshmallows at each other,” Walenda said. 

Madison Dyer is a Freshman Professional Writing and Information Design student, who grew up near the University. She likes to draw, play guitar and engage in general shenanigans.

Photos by Ian Chan