If you ask anyone from NUS, probably less than 1 out of 10 will tell you that they know of a stray cats society (NUS Cat Cafe http://blog.nus.edu.sg/nuscatcafe/about/). NUS has about a total of nearly 200 clubs/societies/interest groups. There's always something for everyone. Here in NUS, vibrant campus life is an important part of education, an important part of our university life. Throughout the semester, posters of activities are actively being put up and at every turn you will see information/recruitment booths being set up.
University life requires quite a bit of independence. One will not find opportunities flying to them, whether its activities, career opportunities or enrichment programmes. But they are there. Campus life is everywhere as well, though some people do not notice it. All it takes is a little observation, a little curiosity and lots of open-mindedness.
In general, there are 3 categories of student activities. One is under the umbrella of NUS Students' Union and the other is clubs/societies which are generally independent and the last university supported clubs (CFA). NUSSU consist of 14 constituent clubs, of which 10 of faculty clubs and 4 are non faculty clubs, namely Cultural Activities Club, Sports Club, Community Service Club and Political Association. Here's some examples of student activities which I am aware of.
1) Faculty activities
As a freshman, you should always take notice of your faculty club and be familiar with it. There are lots of relevant activities which will be useful to you as a student. Besides the exciting camps, faculty clubs also organises pageant bash, career fairs, fund raising activities, bazaars, student welfare activities and lots more. Personally I attended my freshmen Social Camp at Faculty of Engineering and I never looked back since. I made a lot of friends and got to know the university and how it works a lot better by the time I went for my Engin Oweek Camp.
2) Cultural/Arts Activities
There are many arts related activities in NUS as well. If you are interested in watching performances, keep a look out for posters around school. Arts festivals, regular productions by Cultural Activities Club (the club I am in), various societies are also aplenty. For those who want to learn something new, Cultural Activities Club offer courses for students from beginners till to intermediate for various genres such as guitar, street jazz, hip hop, ballroom dance, salsa, lindy hop and bboying. These courses are conducted per semester basis so fret not about having a busy semester. You can always join another semester and try different things in different semesters. CAC is not the only club which offers such courses. Staff Club, SRC (Sports and Recreation Centre) and CFA (Centre for the Arts) offer courses from time to time as well but usually at a higher rate. If you are a performer and wish to join a group professionally, CAC's clubs have performing teams as well, including singing clubs Resonance (acappella), Voices (mandopop) and Guitar (which is a band). CAC also has a traditional instruments group Angklung. CFA has several performing groups like Dance Blast and Synergy.
www.nuscac.org
www.nus.edu.sg/cfa
3) Community Service
Community Service Club (CSC) is a club under NUSSU's wing as well. Despite that, it has strong connections with other service clubs in NUS such as NUS Volunteer Action Committee. I have not participated in community service in NUS yet so I am not extremely familiar but I do know they have a huge spread of volunteering opportunities including OCIPs.
www.nus-csc.org
4) NUSSU (leadership) and its branch organisations
The Students' Union is basically an organisation which takes care of the students' welfare. Welfare is a word with a broad meaning. While some students don't realise it, many things are part of students' welfare. For eg. photocopying machines in school, computer labs, residential stay, student's lounge, career talks, camps etc all fall under welfare. There are much more to this list of course. Generally, all constitution clubs (10 faculty and 4 non faculty) falls under NUSSU but there are other committees are part of NUSSU as well such as Public Relations Unit (PRU), Bizcom, International Relations Committee (IRC), Computer Based Learning Centre (CBLC) etc.
5) Clubs/Societies
There are many types of clubs/societies/interest groups which cater to different needs and interest. For example, Original Music Club is a club for like minded friends to come together to discuss and play music. Japanese Studies Society's name speak for itself. There are around 100 such groups.
6) Others/Misc
You can join Research Centres as a helper, or help out at student cafes which are completely owned by students. Or you can join a residential committee and contribute to fellow students' welfare who stay in a hall of residences.
As you can see, many opportunities for students exist in NUS. School life never stops and there's never a moment of dullness, if you stop and notice, if you take time to seek, if you take effort to explore. NUS offers you endless possibilities.
No comments:
Post a Comment