The complete guide to starting or joining a club at Fanshawe

Illustration with the text, The complete guide to starting or joining a club at Fanshawe. Clubs are back in business. CREDIT: FSU PUBLICATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT

So, you’re new around here and you want to get involved with some Fanshawe activities. Perhaps you’ve been sick of staying in your dorms all year, or you want to have a taste of that sweet, sweet social life but need a reason to get out there after getting comfortable inside for too long.

To help, here’s a complete guide to get you from sitting at home watching Zoom meetings on your computer to starting or joining a club!

Let’s get down to business. Starting a club at Fanshawe is a simple process with a bit of documentation to fill out and some minimum requirements to fulfill. The whole process of starting a club is done through the Fanshawe Student Union (FSU) and goes through the Advocacy and Communications coordinator. This year’s coordinator is Tanya Daulat.

Navigator. Londons student lifestyles magazine.

“It’s a good experience… it’s kind of like an accomplishment,” said Daulat. “When you are in a club or you join a club or you create a club… it definitely adds points to your resume.”

To fulfill the minimum requirements to be a member of a club, you must be a fulltime Fanshawe student actively progressing in a program and have paid the FSU membership fee, which is included in your tuition. Then you’re going to need an idea for a club so you can fill out the club charter, establish a president and vice-president, have two signing officers (only one of which can be the president or vice-president) and have a minimum of five members all together willing to sign the club charter form with you. Everyone will need to provide their names, student numbers, phone numbers and emails.

If your club is associated with a program at the college, or associated with a business, there are extra sections to fill out on the charter. Once you have everything all put together, you can submit the club charter on the website and wait for the club to get approved by the FSU.

Once the charter is approved, the club president has to complete a clubs training module virtually, then sign the Clubs Policy. If you need lockers to store club equipment you can get them through an application on the Clubs Portal of the FSU website. They are located near Clubrooms A and B in the FSU Building. If your club reaches 10 official members, the club is eligible to receive $500 in funding. There’s also a chance to get some co-curricular hours doing club activities if you are president, vice-president or an executive of your club and you host events for your club.

If you would like to recruit members for your club, you can prepare for Clubs Day at Fanshawe in early September. You can also create flyers and go through the FSU to get them approved and shared around the college. Ask your friends and peers in your classes if they are interested and you may find some like-minded folk interested in a club like yours. There’s lots of ways to reach out in the college to new members for your club activities.

“It’s always good to have that safe space [to talk] about something you have in common with other people because it’s really rare to find people with similar mindsets and that’s basically the purpose of the club,” said Daulat. “To have like-minded people together.”

If you want to join a club here at Fanshawe it’s simple: Go to the website fsu.ca/clubs, scroll down to the list of clubs and email the president or vice-president of the club and you’re all set! When they get back to you, they can accept you as a member and you can participate in their club’s activities.

Some clubs that are already ratified by the FSU include:

  • Atmiya London Group
  • EnviroFanshawe
  • Fanshawe Accounting Association
  • Fanshawe Analytics Club
  • Fanshawe Board Games
  • Fanshawe Chess Club
  • Fanshawe Commercial Aviation Student’s Association
  • Fanshawe Game Development Club
  • The Fashion Hub
  • Fanshawe Parks
  • Muslim Student’s Association
  • Power to Change
  • Respiratory Therapy Student Federation
  • Spectrum Fanshawe
If these clubs aren’t your thing, you may be wondering how to get involved with sports at Fanshawe. There are a number of recreation activities handled by Fanshawe Athletics in the Student Wellness Building just for that.

The fall line-up of recreation activities includes free intramural leagues for many sports including flag football, basketball, cricket, and co-ed three pitch softball. There’s also an ice hockey intramural league which costs $190 per person. You can ask the people at the desk of the Student Wellness Building to find out the deadlines to sign up for each league this year. The deadlines to sign up for most intramural leagues are in early September.

There are some drop in sports held from 4 to 6 p.m. every day of the week in the Student Wellness Centre including badminton, volleyball, basketball, cricket, and soccer. These are a great option if you’re looking to make some friends while getting some exercise and you can go at your convenience.

Individual tournaments for outdoor soccer, badminton, table tennis, and ball hockey happen throughout the semester too. Check out the dates at the beginning of the year as they also release in September.

Night owls can also make the most of latenight recreation activities running from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. every Sunday, Mon., Tues., Wed. and Thurs. Bring a friend with you!

So wake up, get up and get out there, Falcons, with the clubs at Fanshawe!