Just before finals week — typically a time when Environmental Engineering major Kayla Clark ’22 and Biochemistry major Julie Schlanz ’23 set up round-the-clock study time to complete final projects and prepare for exams — the two head off campus for an atypical midweek break.
There’s a quietness about Clark when you first meet the Cleveland native. Confident, yet soft-spoken, she details why she chose to transfer from a larger university for the small, liberal arts college three hours from home. Academically, Marietta filled the bill in terms of offering her the opportunity to be a part of the new Environmental Engineering program — but there was something else that kept her here. It isn’t until Clark and Schlanz step into the stables at Stonegate Farm in Coolville, about 25 minutes from campus, that you see these high-performing students start to shed any thoughts of studying and focus their attention to the reason why the two forged their friendship during the Fall 2019 semester: horses.
During that semester — Clark’s first at Marietta —she found herself not knowing anyone on campus, but soon learned that she had the power to build her own circle of friends … and that Marietta College had people and resources ready to help.
“Because we are recruiting students from varying backgrounds, it is important to offer clubs and organizations that meet all these needs,” says Ellen Campbell, Assistant Director in the Office of Campus Involvement. “Not everyone will find a place in a fraternity or sorority or on the athletic field of play, so having groups that hit other interest areas ensures that students find a place to call home and build their support network.”
The importance of building a friend group early on in one’s college career can be a deciding factor in whether a student chooses to retain and persist to graduation or opts to switch schools or drop out entirely. Dozens of clubs at Marietta mean that students have a variety of groups to join or simply learn more about without making a commitment. Those clubs have the organizational and financial support of the College through the Office of Student Life and the student-run Student Government Association (SGA).
We’re all kind of intertwined together in a bunch of different clubs. If freshmen come in worried, saying, ‘Where am I going to find friends?’ or just scared that they’ll be alone, it doesn’t take long to see that everybody here is super-welcoming and that it won’t be long before they find their place.
— Kayla Clark ’22
“I didn’t know this place at all,” Clark says, “and so when I found out that we could start our own clubs, I knew I wanted to start an Equestrian Club so I could be a part of a community of like-minded people who enjoy horses. Horses are a gift, and horse people know that.”
Schlanz was a freshman who was still struggling to find her group of friends when she saw one of the flyers that Clark posted on campus about forming the club.
“In general, my freshman year, it probably took me half of the first semester to really find a solid group of people,” says Schlanz, who is also a member of the Gardening Club. “You just have to continue to expand who you meet, which is something I find really cool about Marietta. I saw one of her flyers asking if people were interested in horseback riding and I decided I wanted to email her. Our classes keep us pretty busy, but Sunday mornings, when we get to be at the barn and be around the horses, you realize that for a couple of hours you didn’t think about how much school work you had during the whole time you were there. It’s therapeutic and it’s nice to be able to share that time with a friend. It’s hard to believe that I get to have these types of experiences at college.”
Recruiting for the new club was starting to take off until COVID-19 sent students home for the Spring 2020 semester and prevented the club from returning to the stables until the Spring 2021 semester.
“So now we only have two members — Julie and I — which means we aren’t eligible for SGA funding,” says Clark, who is also a member of the Chi Omega sorority, is active with the Biology and Gardening clubs, and volunteers weekly at the Humane Society. “We were starting to build membership when the pandemic hit. Hopefully we can get more members so it’s not as expensive for us to do this.”
New students are introduced to the dozens of clubs that Marietta has to offer during the summer PioSOAR (Pioneer Student Orientation, Advising and Registration) event, hosted by the offices of Student Life, Academic Affairs and Enrollment Management to help acclimate and prepare students and their families to college life. Once the Fall semester begins, student groups set up tables along The Christy Mall to host the Involvement Fair, a means to invite students to learn more about their organizations and meet some of the current members.
Vivian Thomas ’21 attended three high schools near Marietta College but didn’t have a solid friend group when they enrolled, initially, as a Physics major. As is the case with many students, Thomas’s major was the starting point of their first friend group.
“When I was a freshman, I went to the Involvement Fair looking for something … like a Computer Club or the Dungeons & Dragons Club,” says Thomas, who recently graduated with degrees in Computer Science and Applied Physics. Friends within their major began talking about creating a campus D&D Club. “I didn’t realize how good a D&D Club would be, and it was actually (former student) Derek Theobald’s idea to start it. I thought it would be fun playing D&D with these new people, but then later I realized what a good conduit it was to make new friends. Once we made the new club, we got way more interest than we ever expected, and now it’s one of the most active organizations on campus. At the same time, the LGBTQ+ Activism Club was starting back up again and I was trying to cross-recruit people into both clubs, which was a success, I think.”
During this year’s Doo Dah Day, Thomas and fellow members of the Marietta College Student Chapter of the Association for Computing and Machinery (ACM) — another student group Thomas helped to revamp — set up a showcase table featuring projects the group worked on individually and together. Those projects included TV heads, an acoustic-powered levitator and the Fortune Teller Putnam, which delivered personalized fortunes to fellow students based on their email addresses. The group has access to the Junior/Senior Research Lab, and some of the equipment, such as hot glue guns, soldering irons and drills. SGA funding helps fill in the supply gap as well.
While the majority of the projects required coding or other technical knowledge, members of the group who have those skill sets help those who do not, which makes the club accessible to anyone, says Thomas, who accepted a job as a software developer in Madison, Wisconsin, for a company that creates software for hospitals.
“The projects I created in ACM haven’t been terribly academic, but for some reason, interviewers loved to hear about my TV head project just because it’s so interesting,” Thomas says. “I put it on my résumé. I’ve actually gotten two different people contact me trying to do research on how to make their own TV head costumes. And I’ve had people try to commission me to make heads for them. I really don’t have time for that right now, but it’s nice.”
Dillon Shoulders ’21 transferred to Marietta and was one of the founding members of the revitalized D&D Club. Initially a Physics and Computer Science major, which is how he met Thomas, Shoulders later switched to Theatre. He is also active in the Music Department and is a member of the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity.
“When I look back at all my other friendships, I see a lot of them are based on the fact that we played D&D together or, even if we didn’t play together, we share that similar interest,” Shoulders says. “Just the fact that we were able to start a club on campus that everyone can be a part of, I think that really helped a lot of people find and connect with other people who they can now consider good friends.”
During non-COVID-19 times, the club meets for game nights in the McDonough Center. Despite the pandemic sending students home during the Spring 2020 semester and altering face-to-face interactions during the 2020–21 academic year, the club continued to thrive through Zoom and Google Hangouts.“I don’t remember a single person I met my sophomore year of high school,” Thomas says. “I came here and I thought it’d be a bit tricky, but I think D&D Club helped a lot. Not just because it connected me with people, but once I started playing D&D, it helped break me out of my shell. Dungeons & Dragons is played, almost exclusively, by talking to people. It’s pretty much impossible to play D&D without socializing. You could potentially have a chess club and play chess silently with people, or be in a biology club and could participate by just watching. But with Dungeons & Dragons, it’s impossible. It makes it hard not to make friends. It gave me some more confidence.”
D&D Club President Alyx Conkright ’22 first met Shoulders as a freshman during the Involvement Fair.
“My roommate and I were looking around and we saw Dillon,” she says. He said, “Hey, D&D Club. We’re pretty fun. If you want to come, everybody’s welcome.’ He was so easygoing about it, which made me feel welcome. So we went and we had a blast. I met so many people that are still some of my best friends today.”
Conkright, a Music Therapy major, didn’t know anyone at Marietta when she arrived. She met her current D&D group during her sophomore year and serves as its Dungeon Master. Because five of the eight members in her group have music-related majors, they try to keep academics out of the conversations during game nights.
“They are some of my favorite people in the world,” Conkright says. “They are all super inclusive, they’re funny and they’re kind.”
Thomas says the D&D Club — as well as ACM and the LGBTQ+ Activism Club — is intentionally inclusive and accessible.
“That was one of the reasons why the (D&D) Club was so valuable to me,” Thomas says. “Before we ever got any funding (from SGA), the people I played D&D with would let me borrow their books. I was grateful because I wouldn’t have been able to do it otherwise. Derek actually gave me a set of dice. Even after COVID, we managed because we could afford to give everyone their own set of dice.”
Thomas made sure the club’s mission statement and bylaws included the goal of allowing any student to play with zero funding, which is important because players need books, character sheets and dice.
“Once we got the books and the dice for people to use, and since we have free printing on campus for the character sheets, there is zero investment and zero financial hurdles that you need,” Thomas says. “The zero cost allows people to come together, not needing to gather resources because the club makes them available for free, and that way anyone can play.”
At the end of the Spring semester, Sara Majorsky ’23 received an email letting her know that the Gardening Club — of which she was President — was named the 2020–21 Outstanding Student Organization on campus. It was a sign that her club was moving in the right direction. But it was a different note — one she received over social media — that showed her that the Gardening Club was serving a greater purpose for its members.
“The mother of one of the freshmen girls in the club messaged me on Instagram and she thanked me for having this club open for her daughter because it was something her daughter could look forward to doing,” Majorsky says. “She was so grateful that her daughter felt welcome to do this and that she was going to have this type of experience coming to school.”
The College offers and provides support for a wide variety of involvement opportunities, knowing that each student has their own set of interests.
“When a student finds a club or group to be a part of, they tend to lead a more balanced life — meaning that they have higher grades, higher feeling of satisfaction and a sense of belonging in their college experience,” Campbell says. “Students have several opportunities to meet and learn about clubs along their way to becoming matriculated members of our community.”
In addition to the PioSOAR and Involvement Fair, new students are encouraged to seek out different club and social activities by their Orientation Leaders and Resident Assistants. New students also take a Pio 102 course, which encourages them to join interest groups.
“We always tell them they don’t have to stay forever, but at least try a couple out,” Campbell says. “The RA plays a huge role in getting students acquainted with campus and helping new students find places to feel comfortable and find a peer group. The RAs are good at helping connect students with others who have similar interests. Making those connections in the first couple of weeks helps to ensure connection and help ward off any homesickness that might pop up. Homesickness happens, but being connected to others helps!”
The Gardening Club has about 50 members, with about 30 who attend regularly. They meet bi-weekly to discuss creative projects and fundraising projects, including selling succulents in terra cotta pots that were decorated by members. The hobby gardeners are also revitalizing the garden space on Butler Street to include a sitting area. Majorsky says the club has received a lot of guidance and support from one of the College’s groundskeepers, Dwight Alsbach, and Biology Professor Dr. David Brown, who is the club’s advisor. The group has also forged ties with Madeson Witkosky-Barr ’17 and her husband, Caleb Barr, with Scots Landscape & Marketplace in Vienna.
“They gave us half off of the terra cotta pots and donated some of the herbs that we put in the garden,” Majorsky says. “(Madeson) was really excited about our club because she said it was something that she would have been a part of if it was at Marietta when she was a student.”
When I look back at all my other friendships, I see a lot of them are based on the fact that we played D&D together or, even if we didn’t play together, we share that similar interest. Just the fact that we were able to start a club on campus that everyone can be a part of, I think that really helped a lot of people find and connect with other people who they can now consider good friends.
— Dillon Shoulders ’21
Majorsky, a Strategic Communication major pursuing the Organizational/Public Relations track and a minor in Environmental Studies, is a former member of the women’s lacrosse team, so she had a few pre-established friendships when she first arrived on campus.
“When we had the PioSOAR orientation, I met a lot of people, including my roommate, who is now our Vice President,” Majorsky says. “There was a little social gathering on our first day, and that’s where I met so many of the friends that I still have today.”
She credits PioSOAR for helping to jump-start her ability to build a friend group.
“I feel like all of us are different but also weirdly the same, if that makes sense,” Majorsky says. “A lot of my friends love science and they love chemistry and organic chemistry — stuff that I would not find that interesting. I also have friends who are Education majors, Psychology majors, science-related majors, but we have the same values and goals. … I can definitely see myself still being friends with them 20 years from now. We’ve already talked about meeting for holidays in the future and like, whoever has kids, we’ll still hang out and be their fake aunts.”
Now more than ever, Majorsky knows how important introductory social mixers and club fairs are to new students.
“I felt really bad for the freshmen coming in for the COVID year because there were so many things I got to do freshman year that were out in the open, like barbecues or just hanging out,” she says. “I never knew I would make the friends that I have by just going to this little mixer my freshman year. I didn’t realize those would still be the friends that I have right now and people I want to see every day.”
Back at the horse farm in Coolville, Kayla Clark and Julie Schlanz spend a few minutes brushing the horses the stable has provided them for the evening. Though their favorite horses (Kayla’s is Moe, who is also a redhead, and Julie’s is Leo), were not available for the evening’s ride, they are grateful for the ability to connect with other horses for the evening. It’s a quiet walk back to the car as the two young women soak up one of their final sessions at Stonegate before the semester ends.
“We’re all kind of intertwined together in a bunch of different clubs. If freshmen come in worried, saying, ‘Where am I going to find friends?’ or just scared that they’ll be alone, it doesn’t take long to see that everybody here is super-welcoming and that it won’t be long before they find their place,” Clark says. “I will say that I’m still making new friends and I’m still finding people along the way through college, but animals are my best friends. So that’s another reason why I started this club, because horses have a lot to teach us outside of the classroom.”
Back at the horse farm in Coolville, Kayla Clark and Julie Schlanz spend a few minutes brushing the horses the stable has provided them for the evening. Though their favorite horses (Kayla’s is Moe, who is also a redhead, and Julie’s is Leo), were not available for the evening’s ride, they are grateful for the ability to connect with other horses for the evening. It’s a quiet walk back to the car as the two young women soak up one of their final sessions at Stonegate before the semester ends.
“We’re all kind of intertwined together in a bunch of different clubs. If freshmen come in worried, saying, ‘Where am I going to find friends?’ or just scared that they’ll be alone, it doesn’t take long to see that everybody here is super-welcoming and that it won’t be long before they find their place,” Clark says. “I will say that I’m still making new friends and I’m still finding people along the way through college, but animals are my best friends. So that’s another reason why I started this club, because horses have a lot to teach us outside of the classroom.”