Plattsburgh State’s Adirondack location could appeal to students who enjoy winter activities, such as skiing or snowboarding.
The PSUC Ski and Snowboarding Club allows students who share a love for shredding the mountains to come together. The club was formed last semester by a group of four students.
PSUC sophomore biology major Bailey Pine thought that starting a club on campus for students who share a love for the sport could be very beneficial.
Pine said that after going to the club fair during the fall 2014 semester and not seeing a snowboard club he went directly to the Student Association to figure out how to start one.
“The SA paired me up with a few other people who showed interest in starting the club, and they gave us a packet that explained exactly how to do it,” Pine said. “We had to write a five page constitution explaining every detail of the club.”
SA Vice President of Clubs and Organizations Taeko Kelly said that when starting a new club, students meet with COSOR, a pannel that decides which department best suites the club, whether it’s sports, the Student Association or an honor society and so on. After a department is chosen, students are given the “new clubs packet” and are asked to select their officers and are told to get a list of signatures to show student interest and to design a constitution outlining a clear goal for the club as well as rules and regulations.
“The students come to an activities board meeting to make a case,” Kelly said. “We review their goals to make sure that another club hasn’t already fulfilled that purpose.”
Clubs have to be approved by the Student Association’s Senate, and then the club is recognized as a provisional club for 90 academic days.
PSUC junior marketing and business administration major Francis Zuber worked alongside Pine and two others to form the club.
Zuber enjoys public speaking and being vice president allows him to express his ideas and encourage input from other members.
“We’re just four people. (the executive board). We can’t come up with every intersting idea on our own,” he said.
As club secretary, Pine said forming the club taught him leadership skills and gave him a group of friends he can share the experience with.
“Riding to the mountain, meeting a bunch of kids who love to snowboard and ski that I didn’t know before,” Pine said. “it’s a great way to make a lot of new friends.”
Pine said the other members of the club provide him with the motivate to improve his snowboarding skills.
Since its start, the size of the club has swelled into the hundreds, reaching 226 members in its Facebook group.
Of that number, around 30-50 of those students attend meeting PSUC junior environmental science major Devin Rosh said.
Kelly said that the number is constantly changing, but right now, there are 84 clubs in the Student Association.
Ski and Snowboard Club treasurer, Rosh, is involved with planning the clubs “Rail Jam” event.
The club will host the second “Rail Jam” competition for students on campus who ski and snowboard during this semester. Last year, crews from Whiteface Mountain transformed the lawn on deFredenburg Hall into a winter wonderland equipped with a large ramp, rails, music and a fire.
Rosh said the club wants this year’s event to involve the entire campus. The event will include a barbeque, fire, DJ and a showcase of student talents.
“It’s going to be really rad,” he said. “We have a lot of students who are really impressive with what they can do.”
Rosh hopes to have a career in the ski and snowboarding industry in the future and thinks that being in the club will help him achieve that.
“I joined the club to just meet other shredders in Plattsburgh,” he said. “This is a great way to get started.”
The club hosted a barbecue Oct. 20 to get a better look at how many students would become involved with the club this year.
The “GnarBQ” featured food, slacklines, board sports and a skating contest.
Pine said one aspect of the club that really benefits him is the car pool system connected to the clubs Facebook page. Riders can access a word document linked to the Facebook page that allows them to sign up for rides or post open spots available to other members.
Zuber has enjoyed watching the club grow, and it has attracted a lot of attention from tansfer students.
“At the first few meeting it was mostly just our friends because nobody knew about it yet,” he said.
Zuber said students should take advantage of being so close to the mountain, even if they have never touched a pair of ski’s or a snowboard before.
“We encourage people who don’t even ride to come,” Pine said. “We can set you up with group lessons with other people who are just starting to ride, too, so you can learn together.”
Zuber said the first day of learning can be challenging and puts people out of his or her comfort zone.
“But at the end of the day, you’re going to look back and say, ‘That was a really fun experience, I’m really glad I did it,’” Zuber said.
For most of this semester, meetings took place during the first week of every month. Now, meetings have become a weekly event due to the start of the season quickly approaching. Starting next semester, meeting will be every Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the Amnesty Room in the Angel College Center.
Email Madison Winters at madison.winters@cardinalpointsonline.com
