Evan Minniti staff writer
Clubs provide an important service for students on campus. They introduce students to new causes, new opportunities. They can help fundraise for charities, set up interesting events, set up jobs or internships, and teach students new ideas. With that said, it seems that many clubs prefer to entice people to come to their meetings with free food, and not with the content of their meetings.
A Highlights poll found that 17.5 percent of respondents listed free food as a reason for attending a club meeting.There is a significant problem here: instead of getting a smaller number of students who actually care about the club and its goals, they get a large number of students who are just hungry. However, many club leaders say this is a legitimate strategy for success in a club.
“A lot of kids have unlocked potential…we wanted to grab that potential and help them be the best person they could be, the best financial person they could be. In order to do that, we had to bring them in and the way we did that was by bringing Sprinkles, and by bringing Diddy Riese cookies. Our meetings kept them coming,” Real Estate Club co-founder Daniel Hanasab said.
In addition, fellow co-founder Jonathan Meshkani believes that if his club stopped providing food, a significant amount of students would still want to come to their meetings.
“I think the food and the extra credit policy have helped us distinguish [between] who actually wants to join our club and who is actually coming to get the food. If, for example, we stopped offering the food and the extra credit, we would still have these determined kids…who are willing to come to our club meetings, food or not, extra credit or not,” Meshkani said.
Meshkani isn’t necessarily wrong. With a combination of the good leadership and advertising, a club may be able to be successful without using food as an incentive. However, it seems like most clubs aren’t interested in doing that. They often prefer a cheap way out by providing free food on campus. Active clubs like Real Estate can provide a positive example to other clubs by not offering free food at their meetings.
By actively putting up flyers and advertisements and contacting student news sources like Highlights and KBEV, clubs can properly get the exposure they deserve without having to make silly shortcuts along the way.
Read about “Clubs work towards success“.