Guide to club recruitment on campus

Between the hundreds of clubs on Penn’s campus, it might be difficult to decide which one is right for you. Clubs require different time commitments and many offer opportunities for greater involvement beyond attendance at a General Body Meeting. The Daily Pennsylvanian caught up with a few organizations on campus to share their missions, time commitments and recruitment strategies.

COUNTERPARTS

Counterparts is known as the oldest coed a cappella group at Penn. They specialize in a wide variety of music from jazz to pop and incorporate splashes of personality into their songs.

Counterparts hosts auditions at the start of every school year. They typically require interested individuals to prepare a verse and chorus of any song of their choosing. Open auditions are Sunday, Aug. 30 from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and on Monday, Sept. 1, from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. in Williams Hall.

Counterparts practice together 5-6 hours per week. In addition to preparing for competitions, they also perform often on campus and in Philadelphia throughout the year.

Counterparts released a new music video this past weekend. Members have accomplished as much as recording albums, touring California and placing in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella.

PENN FOR HILLARY

Penn for Hillary is the leading campus organization supporting Hillary Clinton’s bid for president of the United States. Its members use it as a forum where students of all political stripes can discuss issues affecting the 2016 campaign. They emphasize leadership on pressing issues to Penn students, including college affordability and women’s health programs.

New members are encouraged to join. Visit www.pennforhillary.com or email Robert Klein or Emily Irani to get involved.

While board members meet on a weekly basis, GBMs, guest speakers and BYOs are typically once a month, and the group organizes events with other political groups as well.

PENN AEROSPACE CLUB

The Penn Aerospace Club is dedicated to individuals of all different backgrounds who share one common interest: aerospace. Their members are very hands-on, from rocket launches to space balloons. Their operations division interacts with companies such as SpaceX and Northrop Grumman. PAC also serves as a great teaching environment for aerospace. They hold a series where PAC leaders give short lectures about various topics in aerospace throughout the school year.

PAC hopes to overcome the gender gap by encouraging students from all different schools to join.

Like many clubs, they recruited through the Student Activities Council and Engineering club fairs, which are followed by multiple GBMs. Their first one will feature short presentations from each project team and operations division about their projects and roles to engage more students to take part. They will continue to recruit in the spring semester after freshmen develop more technical skills and a better sense of their interests.

GBMs are weekly, and project team meetings are either weekly or by demand. PAC hosts events approximately once a month.

WHARTON LATINO

Wharton Latino is an undergraduate organization that brings together the Latino community and those interested in Latin America within Penn. Through corporate, educational, social and community service events, Wharton Latino seeks to provide a professional experience to its members by hosting educational speakers and integrating the club’s members through social and community service events.

The club is constantly recruiting. In the fall, the Wharton and SAC recruiting events provide the largest inflow of freshmen. For freshmen, Wharton Latino hosts a Freshmen Project, where freshmen are engaged by organizing the activity of their choice. Late in the fall, freshmen are allowed to apply to board positions and committees.

GBMs are every three weeks, in addition to all other events that are hosted throughout the school year.

They are big on the social aspect of the club. They have invited freshmen to dinner and will continue to organize lunches throughout the semester for members to interact.

PENN HYPE

Penn Hype’s name speaks for itself. It is an SAC-sponsored and coed hip-hop fusion dance group. They incorporate cultural, traditional and modern dance styles, ranging from bhangra, b-boying, Bollywood, dancehall, salsa and hip-hop.

Experience is not required — many members had never danced before or are experienced in a different style.

Penn Hype recruited at the SAC activities fair last week. Though they were the last slot on Locust Walk, they were able to get a speaker to attract more individuals to take interest. They performed at Freshman Performing Arts Night and will perform at many other collaborative events with other organizations on campus throughout the year. Auditions are in the fall and spring. There are typically more auditions and openings in the fall, so interested students should consider auditioning early.

They have performed at different showcases, reaching out to different universities and different communities that are not from Penn. To encourage people to dance and take interest in the club, they will host instructional choreography workshop events throughout the year.

PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE

SOCIETY

The Parliamentary Debate Society, better known as Penn Parli, is a top-tier debate team that incorporates styles and order of British Parliamentary speech into their own. They excel in competitions in the American Parliamentary Debate Association against other societies from the Ivy League and east coast on an annual basis.

They emphasize their social and familial ties to bring out the best in each other. Their members typically hold well-established positions throughout Penn, from Student Activities Council chair, to speaker of the Undergraduate Assembly, Nominations and Elections Committee chair, honors societies and athletics.

New individuals are encouraged to try out. Like many other clubs, they utilized the SAC fair to recruit more freshmen.

WHARTON WOMEN

Wharton Women empowers young women who are interested in exploring careers in business (which is why it’s a great organization to join even if you’re not in Wharton). Wharton Women helps provide resources to its members, from mentorship and career development to philanthropy and friendship.

Their main event in the fall is geared toward freshmen — Freshmen Buddies event, where freshmen sign up to be paired up with an upperclassman mentor. The purpose of this is to really help the incoming freshmen get adjusted to life at Penn and ask any questions that they have. Wharton Women is also very flexible — it’s as much or as little of a commitment as the freshman wants it to be. After the first event, they can decide how frequently they want to individually meet up with their mentor.

There are approximately two GBMs per semester, in addition to several other events that are scattered throughout the year. Their events, such as the Wharton Women Business Conference and the Annual Dinner, cover a wide variety of interests and activities.

Their first GBM is Monday, Sept. 7. Wharton Women will also be at the Wharton Diversity Club ice cream social on Wednesday, Sept. 2.

WHARTON CHINA BUSINESS SOCIETY

The Wharton China Business Society is a conglomerate of different programs — currently including 9 — that share resources such as human capital, operation efficiency and financial resources. There are roles for almost every type of individual, with programs including attracting speakers, establishing corporate relations, publishing political and economic papers, technology and more.

“I joined because I saw a chance to join a family of ambitious but genuinely nice individuals, while utilizing the club’s resources and connections to do projects that I otherwise could not,” one member said.

The club’s fall recruitment is dedicated primarily to gathering the interest of freshmen and sophomores and position them as first-year analysts or committee members in a program of their interest. During the fall, they will continue to explore their interests and gain valuable experience. In the spring, WCBS opens applications for committee member and analyst positions, but primarily uses the spring to internally promote internal members.

GBMs are typically once a month, in addition to 2-3 events per month throughout the year.

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