During her first semester at UVU, Mckell Wall, a communication major, struggled to find her place in a university setting after graduating from her small-town high school of approximately 1,000 students.
Wall, who is now the university college senator of UVUSA, attributes her college success to getting involved outside the classroom.
“I started out as a confused, lost and scared freshman. I didn’t know what I was doing. Being involved has completely changed my entire life around. I now have a deep desire to finish college. I look forward to school and class and I am able to get help with resources and financially through my positions,” said Wall.
According to Martha Wilson, assistant director of the First-Year Experience at UVU, the more involved a student is in a collegiate setting, the more likely he or she is to complete a degree.
“Generally speaking, more active students achieve at a higher level. The more invested you are in your education the better you are going to perform from an academic level and a leadership level. When you’re invested all of those components will fall in line,” said Wilson.
To help students achieve academic success, the school offers resources outside the classroom. Students struggling with mathematics can go to the Math Lab in LA 201 to meet with a free tutor, which is open Monday-Saturday. The Writing Center in LI 208 is the place to go to enhance your writing skills or need help with an essay through one-on-one tutorials and is open Monday-Friday.
If you’re into sports, joining The Mighty Athletic Wolverine League (MAWL) is one of the best ways to meet like-minded sports fans. MAWL offers an official student cheering section at games or tournaments as well as shirts and free food. The price of membership is $20. The Student Life and Wellness Center offers fitness equipment, an indoor track and classes, such as yoga, spin, Zumba, Insanity and Oula. The SLWC offers free membership to students who are taking a minimum of 10 credits and a discounted membership for less than 10 credits.
Students looking to join a club can take advantage of Club Rush, a two-day event that showcases a diverse set of clubs from Sept. 13-14 in the Grande Ballroom located in the Sorenson Building. As of August 2016, there are 238 active clubs to join at UVU.
“There is a place for every student to get involved,” said Wall.
Club categories include recreational, multi-cultural, sports, academic and social awareness clubs. Noticeable clubs that have made headlines last semester in the past have beenhave been: Cultural Cans Club, eSports Club and , Spectrum: LGBTQIA+ Club and the Social Media Club. .
“Up until a year and a half ago, I wasn’t involved at all. The first organization that I joined was the UVU Alumni Association. Ever since I started getting involved my entire life has changed,” said Birch Eve, student body president of UVU. “Getting involved means finding a pace on campus that you can call home.”
According Eve, UVU is projecting 176 clubs to stay active during the 2016-2017 school year.
“Everything indicates that the more students are engaged on their college campus, the more comfortable they become, the more familiar they are with the school’s resources. They build support systems – whether that’s a club, an organization or a faculty member,” said Tiffany Evans, director of program completion at UVU. “Everything indicates that those are the students that are more likely to be successful; they are more likely to gradate when they feel a connectedness to the institution.
