A group of Skyline students along with a faculty member met together last week in the hopes of receiving recognized club status for a student organization.

On Thursday, September 22nd, 2011, Professor Jennifer Mair and students James Mudrick, Mike Jones, andZadoka Perez of Skyline College attended the first planning of a club meeting last week called VOICES, which stands for Voices of Inspired, Caring, Engaged, Students. The purpose of this organization would be to promote student success and unity, by engaging students to have their voices heard by becoming involved in their community.

To be considered a club at Skyline, it’s required that you have at least 10 members signed up to join. Despite having 12 members signed up for the initiated club, last semester, VOICES was set aside club status by theSOCC (Skyline Organization Club Council), a collaborated organization of the ASSC council (Associated Students of Skyline College) after proposing their mission statement to them last spring. The SOCC is a school wide club council which meets with all student club leaders and representatives every other week.

According to the SOCC, VOICES mission statement was looked upon as being too similar to what the ASSC council does, soSOCC had set the VOICES organization aside from gaining club status. This year, VOICES expects to change their mission statement along with recruiting many students in the hopes of applying for club status again next month.

James Mudrick, the expected club president of VOICES is a second year student at Skyline who hopes to drive momentum and encourage many students to join.

“I want to see change on Skyline campus,” Mudrick said. “I’d love to see students become involved and tackle some of the issues for junior college students.”

Mudrick, along with 11 other Skyline students in Professor Mair’s Interpersonal Communication class last semester had attended a 3-day summit in San Jose last April of 2011. The summit encouraged students to speak up for student success, along with becoming engaged in their communities. The 12 students came back from the summit fired up with momentum to create change and make a difference, which inspired them to create a club.

“It’s pretty amazing when you become involved though, it’s a great feeling,” said Mudrick. “When you become involved and feel like you’re doing something… you’re actually part of something….something bigger than yourself.”

Faculty adviser of VOICES Jennifer Mair was inspired to revive the organization despite having being set aside club status last semester. When asked about who inspired her to be the adviser of VOICES, Mair said, “My students to be honest, I’m really passionate about student engagement and having students feel involved and empowered…I’m also very passionate about communication skills.”

Mair also went on to explain the benefits and what she hopes students will learn from being a member of VOICES.

“Student’s should know that they’re powerful, and what they do matter,” Mair said. “I hope they feel that what they do and say matter to their campus…The opportunity is there to improve your campus and community, and to be involved, and have your voice count.”

As the adviser of VOICES, Mair will be facilitating student engagement and opportunity. VOICES plans to run some student forums throughout the year, including a multicultural Thanksgiving feast on November 17th, 2011. The forum plans to speak on topics including what students want to see change on campus, how to improve involvement in campus life, and anything else students want to see change within the school.

Regardless if VOICES gains recognized club status this year, they still hope to encourage students to join their organization, or for anyone to participate in their upcoming forums. VOICES will be funded by the Presidents Innovation Fund organization which funds campus student wide engagement projects, and if it gains club status, they will be funded by the ASSC as well which funds club activities. This year, VOICES plans to give out three or four grants each worth at least $1000, and one worth $2500 to fun student project ideas. The current members of VOICES stated that they hope to collaborate with student government along with any other clubs or dedicated students this year to create change on campus.

The initiated club plans to hold meetings every other Thursday at 2:30pm. If interested in joining, all students are encouraged to attend the next meeting today on September 29th at 2:30 pm, or on Thursday, October 13th. All meetings will be held in building 4 at the new multicultural center.

Editors Note: Terence Chin is a current student in Jennifer Mair’s Comm. 150 class.