At least, this is what Erna Tamrakar, 21, believes.
Erna, who’s the current President of the Career Club at Kathmandu College of Management (KCM) says, “I’ve always been more interested in organizing events rather than participating in them.”[break]
KCM has a number of functioning clubs such as the IT Club, Social Welfare Club, Sports Club, Publication Club, Career Club, and Arts Club out of which Erna was drawn to the Career Club.
Education isn’t just about sitting for lectures in classrooms, studying course books and getting good grades in the exams.
“Clubs give us the firsthand experiences that are useful for us later on,” says Erna. “The Career Club, for example, organizes various events such as Extempore Competition which develops your on-the-spot thinking and speaking skills. The Debate Competition which enhances debating and reasoning skills, and Team-building Competitions which can help you work in a team in organizations,” she explains.
Purely run by students, these clubs organize dozens of both intra- and inter-college events. Battle of the Brains, Inter-College Music Competition, and Girls on Wheels are some of the popular inter-college events organized by KCM which target the general youth.
“The biggest challenge for us is to get people to participate and attend the events and also to make sure that the participants benefit from these events,” says Erna.
Personally, too, she’s seen herself gradually becoming an extrovert. “As President, I’ve got responsibilities and now I’ve become comfortable about taking the first initiative and talking to people,” she adds.
Aishwarya Rani Singh, 20, was the founder of the Social Service Club at her school, St Mary’s High School, back in 2008.
“In our school, there were clubs but all of them were run by teachers or Sisters. So I formed the Social Service Club as a student initiative,” says Aishwarya who shares that she always had the urge to do social work and hence created a medium to do so, by herself, at school.
“Although when it comes to colleges, the quality of education is the most important factor, the presence of extracurricular activities determines how forward the college is,” she continues, adding that college or even school clubs are platforms for students to show their talents.
“Club activities enhance students’ personalities and break the monotony of college,” adds Aishwarya.
Realizing the importance of effective college clubs, the students of Thames International College have revived the initially inactive Student Council and three clubs that run under it. Social Work Club, Management Club and IT Club are the three clubs that work together with the Student Council to organize events on the calendar such as blood-donation programs, sports week, welcome and farewell parties, interaction programs with entrepreneurs and successful personalities and hiking and trekking activities.
Sagar Malla, Vice-President of the Student Council, believes that events, when organized by students, are better than those organized by the college management, in the sense that the student-initiated and student-organized events are more inclined to incorporating ideas from students and having better judgments on the likes and dislike of students.
“Working in college clubs gives an idea about how organizations work and they enable students to handle challenging situations as well as showcase their talents,” says Sagar.
Although the image of the clubs at Thames was negative because of their failure to work effectively in the past, Sagar says that this is changing. “Our image is more positive right now. We’ve been organizing many events and programs and getting the support of the students as well as the college management,” he adds.
For Sagar, the motivation to be a part of the Student Council has been the opportunity to organize events. “I’ve always had an interest in organizing events, and being a part of the Student Council has allowed me to do that. Plus, I get to interact with a lot of people as well,” he shares.
Saugat Gautam, Assistant Coordinator at the Department of Social Science at Thames International College, says, “Clubs should be in every college as it’s a medium through which you can experiment with the things you studied. Plus, it makes you aware of the professional arenas even before you actually enter one.” Saugat, who himself is the Vice President at Rotract Club of Kathmandu Mid-Town, places a lot of importance on college clubs for the all-round development of students.
Talking about the clubs at Thames, he says, “The clubs are thematic and the students organize and facilitate programs that will help the students.”
For the effective running of clubs, Saugat suggests that students should make sure that club activities don’t overlap class schedules and other basic aspects of a student’s life. “Also, students need to take ownership of the clubs for them to be successful,” adds Sagar.
In today’s competitive world where only learning by books no longer imparts comparative advantages to students who aspire to become successful professionals, college clubs provide the needed exposure. They encourage the spirit of camaraderie and put students in real-world scenarios of working and getting things done.
Surely, students are required to give time to club activities and focus on their academics as well, but college clubs are more of an enhancement of college life, rather than a distraction.
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