The Involvement Fair, held last Tuesday on Alumni lawn, allowed students new and returning to witness just how vast the array of clubs and groups are at Pace.

There was a variety of sororities and fraternities, a Disney club, a Drama club, multiple ethnic and cultural associations and more. Just from a quick stroll through the fair, one could find something pertaining to everything under the – rather hot – sun. Still, the key word here is almost.

What do you do when there isn’t a club at Pace to satisfy your interest?

The easy answer would be to just create the club yourself. But what does that really entail? That’s what sophomore, Julia Kennedy, asked herself last semester when she came up with the idea to create a skiing and snowboarding club.

After bonded with multiple people over the interest in winter sports during her freshman year, Kennedy decided to start a club to help broaden and unify that community.

Starting was easy enough.

Kennedy contacted the head of the Student Development and Campus Activities (SDCA), Shawn Livingston. He mapped out the process of how to get SDCA and Student Government Association (SGA) recognized. This means that Kennedy’s club would be able to go to Involvement Fairs, reserve rooms for club meetings, and be acknowledged as an official club part of Pace.

Simple as that may seem, there was a lot of work to be done to get there.

Selecting a board of people to help her organize and run the club was first. Positions included and were not limited to: Vice President, Event Coordinator, Senator, and PR person.

Next, it was choosing a name for their club. They settled on “For Every Adrenaline Rush” or FEAR, for short. They had to construct a club constitution for people to know what the club is and how it should be ran. When the constitution was reviewed and approved, the club became SDCA recognized.

They had to attend informational meetings to educate board members on what is expected of them. Kennedy then had to get creative in finding ways to get the word out.

“We talked to our friends to get a head start on everything,” Kennedy said. “Then we got on Orgsync. We ended up walking around with a computer to get people to sign up. That was fun.”

The road to success certainly was not without its bumps.

As more ideas sprang up, FEAR began to evolve into an adventure club, instead of just a winter sports one. It would hold other events like ropes courses, haunted houses, and trips to Six Flags; this way, FEAR could function year-round.

The problem was that their ideas began to overlap with other groups such as Nature Club and Programming Board. They were definitely not spared this criticism when it came time to stand before the Student Senate and make a proposal for funding.

“I still have nightmares about it…” Kennedy said. “Still, it taught me to go with my gut. I knew that what I wanted was a winter sports club, so I figured I should clear the slate and start over fresh.”

Unfortunately, they got rejected for funding that time around. Instead of giving up, Kennedy got her board together and they decided to regroup and brainstorm some fresh new ideas over the summer. She also stayed in communication with people at the SDCA to get their input as well.

“S’winter was an idea!” Kennedy said. “We want to have a Winter-themed fundraiser while it’s hot outside and hopefully that will bring along a few new members too. We’re in a brainstorming phase right now and we are working toward finally getting funded because we know it’s not impossible to get there.”

Kennedy provided straightforward advice to other students who may be looking to start their own clubs at Pace.

“Talk to your board,” Kennedy said. “Make sure everything is straight with them because if you’re not all on the same page… it really sucks.”