Jaguar students sat down and began to network with each other at the first ever meeting of the long time dormant club, the Communication Club. Students spoke with each other to form new connections that would allow them to reach more opportunities on Oct. 13 in room T304 in the Technology Center.

The meeting was an hour long and altogether 14 people showed up with four of them being present over zoom. Alondra Martinez, 19, majoring in communications, said she felt great about the turnout at the first meeting.

“Just talking to all these people and having these people over, and then seeing that we all share one thing in common which is being shy, not knowing how to socialize, I feel like that’s gonna bring everybody together,” Martinez said.

The club discussed future events including field trips and volunteer work. Adeline Banuelos, the president of the club, said “We would like to think about what’s fun and what would students like to see.”

Hollywood was one of the ideas that the club officers had in mind for any field trips the club would like to take.

“See comedians, go on talk shows, just anywhere, anything that has to do with communications,” Banuelos said.

Haley Carr, a 23-year-old majoring in psychology, mentioned how she too was excited about the volunteer work and community engagement.

“I want to be better at it. just make it a better campus,” Carr said. “I was hoping it would just bring me closer to this college and people because I don’t really have that many friends.”

Carlos Castañeda, a club member and psychology major, also mentioned his excitement on reaching out to the people in his community. Some of the positive reactions Castañeda had about engaging with the community stemmed from negative experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I want to say COVID actually has played a really big impact within our social communications with one another … like imagine being secluded from everybody, we were in a pandemic, we had to seclude our families to stay safe from one another,” Castañeda said. “We’re social creatures and we were literally born to come into this world and communicate with one another.”

Martinez also said that her negative experiences were because COVID took away much of her senior experiences such as prom and interactions with her friends.

To some it is because of these negative experiences that clubs such as the communication club are vital to them more now than ever.

“We were just stuck in our room, talking to our computers the whole time. It pretty much lowered our socializing and communication skills, and because of that people are afraid to go out and be open with each other … So I just want to be able to open up and have an opportunity to have people become more open.” Duke Dekowski, 18, vice president of the club said.

For the students who are interested in engaging with the campus in community service and communion Debowski encouraged joining the Communication Club.

“Give the club a try. Especially for the first year, I know it’s a bit overwhelming … I just hope that this club will have you unwind, just have fun, be free for a little bit and just have this club be the thing to think about when you remember College,” Debwoski said.