Illustrations by Ren Rader
Student Involvement recently approved five new Registered Student Organizations (RSOs). Being an RSO means the organization is officially acknowledged by Student Involvement instead of by an academic department.
From focuses on bullet journaling to socialism, the new groups diversify the now 112 total RSOs on campus. According to Shannon Twumasi, coordinator for student programs, each RSO went through a semester-long process that included drafting constitutions, creating member lists and doing interviews. Student Involvement approved every RSO that applied this semester.
“We ask the question, ‘Why? What is the benefit?’” Twumasi said. “They always say, ‘There’s a gap right now in the community and this is how we want to fill it.’”
Bullet Journal Club
Senior Caroline Wall and sophomore Thao Dinh began organizing the Bullet Journal Club this semester as a way to bring students of all interests together under the commonality of being a student. Thao said bullet journaling is a way for students to organize their life while being creative. The club meets every Tuesday for an hour at 7 p.m. in the Tiger Learning Commons.
“You can stay for one hour or half an hour,” Thao said. “It depends on you. We create a safe environment for people to talk about their problems, talk about their busy schedule. We’re all Trinity students. We all have that stress, but where do we relieve it to? We have that base.”
Danza
Danza is the Spanish word for dance, and in this club, people can learn and practice techniques of different styles of dance such as zumba and salsa.
“They are a social, zumba, salsa technique class, also a workout emphasizing class,” Twumasi said. “Kind of a combination of technique and workout.”
Special Olympics College Club
After getting a letter of support from Special Olympics Texas, sophomore Katie Wright kickstarted Trinity’s own Special Olympics College Club. There are plans for unified basketball in the spring, and there is potential for a prom open for all Special Olympics clubs in South Texas and a Polar Plunge fundraiser in February. According to Wright, having a Special Olympics club will help foster more diversity and inclusion.
“The Special Olympics mission is to empower individuals with intellectual disabilities and help them find their strengths and focus on strengths,” Wright said. “When we’re here, we’re in that bubble and we don’t really think about other abilities or people who may think differently than us and I think it’s really important to look at the strength-based approach.”
Trinity Independent Artists
Sophomore Maximillian Armitage is starting a club geared toward artists of all kinds called Trinity Independent Artists. A rapper himself, Armitage said creating an RSO was an important step to bring artists together through the access to Tspace and potential funding. The goal of Trinity Independent Artists is to give musicians, painters and any other artist you can think of a place to collaborate and work on their craft.
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“I think there’s a lot of things artists can do on campus to foster more diverse community and meet other people,” Armitage said. “I also feel like there’s a lot of students on campus who don’t fit into a traditional department, and they don’t really have a lot of attention on them, so we can highlight those people.”
Young Democratic Socialists of America
Sophomore Victoria Henretty and junior Noelle Barrera organized a Trinity chapter of Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), a national organization with around 80 chapters across the country. (Barrera is the Special Sections editor for the Trinitonian.)
Henretty said their goal is to focus on national issues but localize them to San Antonio and Trinity’s campus, forming break-off groups based on core issues such as ecosocialism, workers’ rights and diversity and inclusion. In addition to a YDSA book club, meetings next semester will most likely be twice a month for large groups and once a week for break-off groups.
“Although people know Trinity is a very liberal school, I think that it’s time for leftists on campus to actually organize and have our voices heard because right now it’s not very organized, and it’s very individualistic,” Henretty said. “I’m ready for us to come together and have one large voice.”
Twumasi said if students are thinking about applying to have their group recognized by Student Involvement, preparedness and organization is key. The next opportunity to apply for RSO status will be this spring.
