AUinvolve reaches 500 organizations and counting

The Office of Student Involvement announced that as of Oct. 28, it has reached 500 student organizations on campus. The School of Forestry and Wildlife Ambassadors made the 500th organization. For students, this means that there are at least 500 opportunities for them to get involved on campus.

John-Michael Roehm, coordinator for the Center for Student Involvement, said it's incredible that it's reached this number.

"[It] means there are more opportunities for students at Auburn to get plugged in and to get involved in something that interests them," Roehm said. "There’s bound to be something that a student is interested in or that they’ve found a connection to."

Leah Bostany, chairperson of the Organizations Board, said she is excited that students have so many options to "find their passion" on campus by getting involved.

"College is really a time not to just learn about yourself but to learn more about others," Bostany said. "The fact that we’ve reached 500 organizations is just amazing. It gives students opportunities that they probably will never see in their post-graduate life." 

In the three years since AUinvolve launched, the Office of Student Involvement has seen a "tremendous growth in this past year," according to Roehm. In the first two weeks of this semester alone, "we saw a 75 percent increase in the number of students accessing AUInvolve," according to Roehm.

There isn't a limit or a goal for the number of organizations that AUInvolve can have, according to Roehm.

"Our goal is met whenever every single student on campus has found a connection or something they’re passionate about to be involved with," Roehm said. "We welcome the number to be 1,000 one day if that was what it means, but we also welcome that number to be 300 if that’s what it means."

The Organizations Board meets every two weeks on Tuesdays, where it votes to approve or disapprove of proposed organizations, according to Roehm. For a potential organization to be considered, it must have at least 10 members, a faculty or staff adviser, a constitution and bylaws and a list of proposed activities, according to Roehm.

Bostany said the other facet of her job as a member of the Organizations Board is to allocate out the $75,000 it is given each year to different organizations. The money can be used to fund different projects or allow students to attend conferences.

Jane Chu, junior in biomedical sciences, said that as an AUInvolve ambassador, she and her fellow ambassadors are "trying to get the word out" about as many organizations as possible.

"We're hoping to expand AUInvolve so that all 500-plus organizations can spread their word out to all the students," Chu said. "Just because you don't get into one doesn't mean you should quit [trying]." 

Bostany said she thinks students should get involved to get to know as many groups of people as possible.

"Take advantage of those opportunities, go to as many events as you can, as many dinners and talk to as many international students as you can," Bostany said. "[You will] really gain an appreciation for everything that the Auburn Family has to offer."