New science club, Geek Chic, forms on campus to promote and make science fun for everyone
After noticing a lack of interest in science fields across campus and in many educational facilities, Winthrop student, Stephanie Green, decided to do something about it. She created the new club Geek Chic as a way to promote science and show people that it is in fact an interesting and exciting field. Stephanie Green is president of Geek Cheek along with Alecia Rose Balent as vice president, Nefertiti Ann Marine as co-vice president, and Marlin McKnight as treasurer.
“The purpose of this organization is to make science fun for everyone. I started this club because I wanted to make science applicable and entertaining for everyone through everyday activities. An example is making YouTube videos of experiments and going on field trips to other universities and/or museums to look at the wonderful science discoveries or inventions,” Green said.
Geek Chic is open to all majors. The goal of the cub is to get students from all fields to come together and celebrate science. The officers of Geek Chic want to get rid of the stigma that comes along with science such as it’s boring and uninteresting.
“I think this club will bring a new light to all science in general and make people of all majors see that it’s not boring and actually very interesting,” Green said.
Geek chic will give students the chance to explore their interest in science and explore why they think science is important. The club plans to be very inclusive in everyone’s different beliefs and interests in the field of science.
“Science is important to me because it gives me the explanation of how something happens and why does it happen. I am a Christian so I believe that God created the universe and I want to find out every little detail about his creation and how special its existence is on this earth. However, this is not a Christian organization, this is just my personal interest in why I study science,” Green said.
The new club already has future events planned out to promote science across campus. These future events include an educational talk about minorities in the science fields and a nerdy fashion show.
“We have 2 major events that we are planning. One is “we ARE here” and this event is about making minorities in hard sciences known because the history book did not. Two is “Getcha Geek/Nerd on” which is going to be a fun fashion show that’s going to have all nerdy attire with lab coats, glasses, bell bottoms. All the attire that a typical nerd will wear but just a little bit more swag to them; projecting that you can be a geek/nerd and still be stylish,” Green said.
If students don’t have time to fully commit to a campus club there are plenty of other ways to get involved in the sciences around campus. One way is through volunteering around campus. The sustainability department often times puts on events such as a campus trash pick-up and there are many adopt a highways around the Rock Hill area on weekends. Students interested in environmental science can look into volunteering at the community garden near campus on Constitutional Boulevard. Students interested in medical sciences can volunteer at local Rock Hill hospitals, which usually has volunteer orientations a couple times a semester.
Geek Chic consists of plans to partner with other clubs on campus such as SEAC to help collect plastic bags and help at the community garden. The club is currently looking for a social media director to get the word of club meetings and events out to the public and a secretary to help with planning and set up of events. Geek Chic meets every Monday at 7:30pm in DiGs 258 and encourages students from all majors to join.
