Nine New Clubs Worth Checking Out

Looking for new ways to get involved on campus and find your niche? Check out some of the AMS’ newest ratified clubs and see where you can volunteer in the Queen’s and Kingston Community!

1. Queen’s Helping Haiti

Mission: On campus, the mandate of Queen’s Helping Haiti, is twofold. 1) To raise awareness about the situation in Haiti and to fundraise in order to support the organization’s initiatives. 2.) To directly involve Queen’s students in the initiatives implemented by Helping Haiti.

Initiatives: An exciting week of events in January (from January 5th to the 11th) devoted to Haiti! To start the week, there will be an information session with Helping Haiti’s founder to discuss the motivation, difficulties and amazing opportunities of working in Cité Soleil. During this session the Queen’s Helping Haiti’s upcoming student-oriented volunteer opportunity in Haiti will be announced. On January 14th, there will be a very awesome concert at the Brooklyn, featuring local and university bands and artists! Closing off the week with a “splash” (date to be announced) the second annual Polar Bear Dunk will be held (considered the “coolest” event of the year). This is when folks from the Kingston and Queen’s community are invited to raises pledges and jump into Lake Ontario. There will be music, hot chocolate and even a hot tub to make it a fun day outdoors. All for a great cause!

Why/When Started: After hearing the Founder of Helping Haiti speak at a conference, the story inspired club founders to find people within the Queen’s and Kingston community that would be as passionate in empowering men, women, children and even gang members in CitéSoleil to bring about their own change, their own peace. 

How to get involved: This year specifically, Queen’s Helping Haiti will be hard at work setting up opportunities for students studying in fields related to the work of Helping Haiti to travel to Cité Soleil and assist in the teaching or planning of programs implemented in the community. Because the immediate needs of the community are largely health-related, this year Queen’s Helping Haiti is particularly seeking the involvement of nursing and medicine students in the the creation of educational material that will complement the First-Aid, nursing, Infant CPR, hygiene and sexual health classes taught in Cité Soleil. True to Helping Haiti’s mission and dedication to capacity-building initiatives, Queen’s Helping Haiti will also be working on the development of a leadership course taught conjointly with women’s rape defence course.

Social Media:  Facebook: @Queens Helping Haiti, Website:  www.helpinghaiti.ca

 

2. Medical Variety Night Club

Mission: Production of an annual charity talent show: Medical Variety Night, where medical students present class skits, music acts, dances and other performances on two nights in April. Each year, we select a charity (or multiple charities) to fundraise for, and also we help them raise awareness for their cause at our event.

Initiatives: This year, Medical Variety Night is taking place on Friday, April 10th and Saturday, April 11th.

Why/When Started: Existing for the past 44 years, Medical Variety Night is excited to become an AMS club this year as part of our efforts to encourage more undergraduate involvement. Originally, Medical Variety Night was started as an opportunity for medical students to showcase their talents to the rest of the Queen’s and Kingston community, while also benefiting a good cause.

How to get involved: Undergraduate students can email to get involved in the behind-the-scenes planning for the event (promotions, front of house, etc). Medical students can also email  to get involved in either performances or behind-the-scenes planning.

Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/QmedMVN?ref=br_tf   Website: http://mvn.qmed.ca/

 

3. Queen’s Diabetic Club (QDC)

Mission: Aiming to unite and support those living with diabetes through networking and group events.

Initiatives: Still being determined, although the QDS hopes to host socials, guest speaker presentations and routine club meetings in the Winter term

Why/When Started: While awareness groups do exist on campus, there is no club aiming specifically to connect and support those affected by diabetes hence the QDS was started to connect and support people living with diabetes.

How to get involved: Check out the club website on the AMS clubs page for more info and email us at 

Social Media: Nothing for FB or Twitter, but those interested should check out our website on the AMS club page.

 

4. Refresh Bolivia

Mission: Dedicated to improving health in Bolivia by increasing access to safe, clean, and sustainable drinking water.

Initiatives: Refreshment for Bolivia, which will aim to not only educate students about the lack of access to clean water in Bolivia and across the world, but will also be a social event to connect likeminded students. Please like us on Facebook to stay updated with events.

Why/When started: Over the summer became involved with an organization known as Refresh Bolivia and the people we met through this program were nothing short of inspirational. They were a group of individuals who dedicated endless hours to help alleviate the water shortage problem in Bolivia. Many Bolivians are unable to afford water, a basic human right, and are placed in an unsettling predicament, which greatly affects their health. Intrigued and touched by their mission, we decided to create a chapter at Queen’s to spread the message and engage students to become involved in this cause.

How to get involved: Students can attend Refresh Bolivia at Queen’s events, become general members to help with fundraising efforts, apply to be executive members to run the day-to-day operations of the club, or elect to volunteer aboard over the course of two weeks in the summer, collaborating with students from other universities across Canada and the United States.

Social Media: Facebook: Refresh Bolivia – Queen’s Chapter     Website: www.refreshbolivia.org

 

5. Queen’s Italian Club

Mission: To celebrate Italian culture in the Queen’s community, not only partaking in cultural customs but acting as a platform for people of any skill level to come together and practice the Italian language. We also attempt to broaden horizons for those unaccustomed with Italian culture and who are curious about various cultural traditions and practices. Oh, and we like to have a little bit of fun while we are at it.

Initiatives: In the midst of planning the highly anticipated holiday social–stay tuned for further information!

Why/When Started: Queen’s Italian Club was created this fall by a group of students in response to the lack of an Italian cultural group present at Queen’s. Many of our members are involved in Italian groups back in their own communities and wanted to continue to be involved in such activities. A major factor was that an Italian linguistic club did not exist for students of the various Italian classes who desired further reinforcement of concepts taught in class. Our Italian language students want to be stimulated, which is one of our primary goals. It is a chance to meet other people who share the same heritage or interests here at Queen’s, and that is something which is invaluable.

How to get involved: Getting involved is as simple as sharing your ideas, whatever they might be! We are a collaborative group and being such a new club, our duty is to respond to what interests our members have and to plan events based upon them. If planning events and such isn’t your thing, then come participate in whatever we have going on! It’s as simple as joining our Facebook group, our primary method of communication with members. From there we have all the details for our upcoming events, who to contact, fun daily posts and much more information!

Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/369964983128458/     Twitter: https://twitter.com/QItalianClub

 

6. Queen’s University Ukrainian Students’ Association (QUUSA)

Mission: To provide educational and cultural activities for students interested in learning about Ukrainian traditions and keeping up to date with current events in Ukraine. QUUSA aims to unify students with a Ukrainian heritage while creating opportunities for members to contribute to the Queen’s community.

Initiatives: QUUSA hosts awareness events about Ukraine’s history and current events. The club will hold “how-to” workshops in typical Ukrainian pastimes and hold monthly meetings.

Why/When Started: Much of the Queen’s community is defined by the cultural diversity of students in the university. There is a large population of students with a Ukrainian background at Queen’s University; the formation of the newly ratified QUUSA was largely driven by the goal of unifying this group of students who share similar interests and come from similar cultural backgrounds. Additionally, the formation of QUUSA was also influenced by the recent events in Ukraine and the hope of making the Queen’s community more aware of the political turmoil in the country.

How to get involved: November 17th to 23rd is the Holodomor Awareness week. Holodomor stands for “death by starvation” and is a word used to represent the genocide in Ukraine in 1932-1933. On Tuesday November 18th we will be in the ARC raising awareness about the Holodomor and giving out ribbons by donation to commemorate the lives lost in the Holodomor. Additionally, on Wednesday November 19th we will be playing a documentary about the Holodomor.

Social Media: Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/quusa  Email: . Always welcoming new members and look forward to future QUUSA events with all of our members.

 

7. Queen’s Love146

Mission: Aims to educate, the Queen’s and Kingston communities about child trafficking, slavery and the organization Love146 itself. Fundraise annually for Love146, a non-profit organization founded in 2002, cofounders of the organization travelled to South East Asia, where they went undercover in an investigation to a brothel. Here, they witnessed young girls being sold for sex, and one particular girl stood out. This girl was staring back into the pane of glass, and this stare was remembered to be the perseverance that was left of her, she resembles the millions of people out there who are still fighting. This young girl had the tag number of 146. Love 146 works towards the ending child trafficking and slavery, through prevention and survivor care. The fundraising profits will go directly towards Love146, to aid in prevention and survivor care. Queen’s Love146 focuses on social justice, human rights, education and advocacy.

Why/When Started: This club started with the intentions of wanting to bring the mission of Love146 to the Kingston Community. Being a large student body, it would be a good opportunity to spread the awareness of Love146 and what they stand for. Queen’s Love146 is a new club that started in October 2014, and although it is a relatively new group, we have a vision for the club and many fundraisers throughout the school year!

Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Love146Queens  Twitter and Instagram: queenslove146  It is also possible to find us through the Love146 Task Forces when searching for the Kingston location!

 

8. Kingston Running & Reading Club

Mission:Improve the lives of elementary students both physically and mentally. Each week volunteers travel to Kingston Frontenac School and train the participants for three hours to compete in a 5 kilometre run in Toronto at the end of year. This afterschool program begins with a warm-up activity and then proceeds towards exercises and games geared towards helping the students train for their race at the end of year. After this, a nutritious snack is provided and the “Word of the Day” is explained and the group discusses its meaning. After this the students fill out their journals, allowing them to reflect on what they did on the particular day and practice writing. The final component of each week is  free reading time, where the coaches help the students read a book of their choice.

Initiatives: Meet at Frontenac Public School on most Thursdays during the semester from 2:30-5:00. There is a 5 kilometre race and reading in May at York University for the elementary children enrolled in the program. Attendance is optional for this.

Why/When Started: The program that is the basis of the club, Running & Reading, has already been in operation in the Kingston community and nationwide for several years. This program is affiliated with Start2Finish, a non-profit organization that strives to improve the lives of Canadian children.

How to get involved: Just shoot a quick email at ! You can join whenever you want throughout the year!

Social Media: Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/373268879464735/

9. The Claire Closet Queen’s

Mission: To teach students fun and simple ways to express themselves in an environmentally friendly way. This will be done through do-it-yourself workshops taught by executive and members and clothing swaps in the Kingston community. This club is a great opportunity for people to explore their personal style while meeting new people with similar interests. The mentorship program will provide a unique opportunity for Queen’s students to build relationships with Kingston high school students while enabling personal growth in both the mentors and the mentees.

Initiatives: Events that we will be hosting include clothing swaps, Do-It-Yourself Workshops, fun photo shoots, and many small workshops to increase sustainable living. The next event is a Clothing swap in Mclaughlin Hall on February 1st from 4-7pm. There will also hopefully be having an event during frost week at one of local clubs. Stay tuned!

Why/When Started: Claire, a local high school teacher at Holy Cross, had started a club at her school called ‘The Claire Closet Girls’ which promotes eco-art and fashion through clothing swaps and DIY workshops as well as many other workshops including yoga, cooking, sewing etc. As Kait and I were walking down Princess one day we browsed around her clothing swap and became inspired to start the same type of thing at Queen’s. After talking to Claire she said she would love to work with us, and us with her, and we decided to create ‘The Claire Closet Queen’s. Kait and I were inspired by the collaboration of two things we are very passionate about; fashion and sustainability, as well as woman empowerment.

How to get involved: Everyone, boys and girls, can get involved by coming to our events, and become more involved by applying to be a member. We are having a hiring process again in January and the applications will be available on our website next January.

Social Media: Facebook www.facebook.com/claireclosetqueens

It’s not too late to get involved with a cause you really care about, so reach out to any of the clubs above with questions you might have about commitment or how to get involved!

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