By Abigail Passafiume
The Student Association Senate approved the reinstatement of French club and granted permanent status for the Trout Unlimited club at its Feb. 19 meeting.
French club will be returning to the SUNY Plattsburgh campus this semester after years of not being active and shares plans for moving ahead.
Senator Kayla Alanzo met with the group prior to the meeting to discuss why the French club is a beneficial addition to Plattsburgh’s campus.
“They want people to learn French, they want to do events with French movies and food and just hangout and learn about France,” said Alanzo.
Members from the French club attended the meeting where President Kaydance Brownell answered questions regarding the approval of the club.
The club has already begun planning future events and initiatives to bring in more membership.
“We want to get together with other clubs and integrate French culture. Book club with french literature, cooking club learning some french meals, we are in communication with the Canadian studies department and we want to bring more awareness to their trip to Canada,” Brownell said.
The club has gained support from the French department and has found a faculty advisor.
“We have support from the head of the French department. She originally reached out to me to start it up again because I created a club like this in highschool,” Brownell said.
Approval for the club was a unanimous yes.
The SA approved the Trout Unlimited Club being promoted to permanent status on campus.
Multiple members from the group came to the meeting to show their support in asking for approval of permanent status.
“The main mission of this club is to conserve our waterways and be inclusive to everyone. Making awareness of fly fishing as a sport, learning the appropriate way to practice the sport, all things involved with good care,” President of Trout Unlimited, Liam Loveland said.
Trout Unlimited is a non-profit organization who serve to protect and restore cold water fisheries and their watersheds. The national organization has over 300,000 members and supporters and over 400 chapters and councils. They strive to build a framework to protect fish and fishing opportunities. The organization has 27 chapters in New York alone and are continuing to expand and raise awareness for safe and mindful fishing.
The club has future plans for more events that anyone can get involved in on campus.
”We are doing a river cleanup on the river behind campus. Fishing a little bit, but mainly picking up trash and leaving it better than we found it,” Loveland said.
The current membership of the club is between 10 and 20 members, and they are more interested in pursuing future events. The club also has a social media account, and is finding more ways to promote digitally.
“We want this club to be for everyone, even if you don’t like fishing but you like cold water conservation, you can find that in this club too – We don’t want it to be exclusive to just fishing,” Loveland said.
The club will be hosting more events in the future in hopes to bring more awareness to fly fishing and cold water conservation.
The Student Association is continuing to promote their mission and goals to the student body in hopes of getting more people involved in the upcoming election. Senators will continue going to classes and giving an informational presentation on the importance of the SA.
Applications are out now to apply for the Student Association executive branch.
