Academic Clubs

Animation Club
Animation Club strives to help others learn about animation through both the appreciation and 
practice of animation.

What are our meetings like?
Meetings start off with discussion of any updates or important club-related information. Then, we 
spend a portion of the time watching animated short films and discussing them. The other portion of the club is getting into the computer programs for animating practice and working on projects. Animation Club has drawing tablets, Mac computers, and is updated with leading industry programs, including the latest version of Adobe Flash. 

What do we do?
Animation Club is an open environment for people of all skill level and goals. We work individually 
and in groups to experience the animation production process. We practice primarily 2D animation. We also appreciate animation through showing each other animated short films we find interesting. 

How can you reach us?
Advisor: John Harford, john.hardford@raritanval.edu 
Co-Advisor: Cynthia Teeters, cynthia.teeters@raritanval.edu

Astronomy Club
Promotes an interest in the science and hobby of astronomy by providing a forum for like-minded people to interact and learn from each other and to share their expertise with those who would benefit from it.

What do we do?

The Astronomy Club does what the current members want to do.  We have had bake sales, created PowerPoints about astronomy topics for planetarium visitors, launched model rockets, taken a trip to the American Museum of Natural History, sponsored a movie on campus, learned to do a night sky presentation in the planetarium, and used telescopes to observe both the day and night skies.

What are our meetings like?
We meet in the Planetarium each week. After talking about any old and new business, we'll often watch a planetarium show or use the planetarium to learn the stars that are visible in the night sky.

How can you reach us? 
Advisor: Amie Gallagher, Amie.Gallagher@raritanval.edu

Biology/Chemistry Club
The Biology/Chemistry Club exists to promote awareness and exposure to RVCC students who are interested in chemistry and the biological sciences. The club members engage in research, seminars, and activities that allow students to practice and enjoy what they have learned within the classroom setting. It also fosters social interaction between students and faculty members. The club exists primarily to support chemistry,  biology, and pre-Medical majors, however, all majors are welcome.

What are our meetings like?
We have refreshments while we discuss events, projects, and activities that we are involved in. Then, we watch a short film or documentary followed by an experiment. 

What do we do?
We love discussing current events and conducting cool experiments. We attend seminars and hold weekly meetings. Club members get involved in the community by doing community service projects, fundraising, and raising awareness for various public health concerns. In addition, we hold an annual poster session for the Science and Engineering department in the spring.  

How can you reach us?
Advisor: Eric Iannacone, Eric.Iannacone@RaritanVal.edu

Campus Fitness Club 
The Campus Fitness Club is a resource to provide a motivational camaraderie in fitness, and an
 educa tional resource to promote Nutrition, Health and Wellness to the campus community.

What are our meetings like?
The meetings of the club are typically about a half hour and we discuss possible fitness activities for the week and plan times to meet up in the fitness center so that the club members can workout together. During these meetings we also try to plan fitness events and activities on campus to recruit more members. Sometimes we will meet in the fitness center to exercise instead of having a formal meeting.

What do we do?
The purpose of the club is to get students on campus more active. Students with a common interest in fitness can come together through this club and become more active as a group.

How can you reach us? 
Advisor: Linda Romaine,  Linda.Romaine@raritanval.edu

Computer Science Club
The club provides an opportunity for students interested in computer science, problem solving, and logical thinking to learn and develop skills in an environment that encourages teamwork and innovation.   

What are our meetings like?
Meetings are a place to show off your personal CS/programming projects, both theoretical and applied, and discuss current events in the world of computer science and technology. You are encouraged to ask for help when you need it and offer help when asked. Most importantly, meetings are an opportunity to get together with fellow technophiles and get some experience in team-based projects, a crucial skill in CS and any field.

What do we do?
Besides personal and team-based projects, club members are encouraged to attend events such as technology conventions and Hackathons. We also take an active role in our communities by promoting interest in computer science and all STEM fields.

How can you reach us?
Advisor: Stephen Brower, Stephen.Brower@raritanval.edu

Criminal Justice Club
Plans activities related to the college’s Criminal Justice program, with opportunities to discuss issues pertinent to the field. Law enforcement agencies provide networking opportunities and career information.

What are our meetings like?
In the meetings we aim to educate those interested in all aspects of law enforcement and the criminal justice field. Our meetings consist of brainstorming new ideas for future events and discussing any questions or concerns anyone may have in relation to the field of criminal justice.

What do we do?
We host events that captivate those truly interested in criminal justice. Our prior events have included tours of jails and forensic labs, as well as having guest speakers such as a prosecutor from the Somerset municipality. Our main goal is to make learning about this subject fun and engaging for everyone who wants to participate. 

How can you reach us?
Advisors: William Flynn, William.Flynn@raritanval.edu
Brian Donnelly, Brian.Donnelly@raritanval.edu

Debate Club  
The debate club at RVCC is devoted to helping students improve their public speaking abilities.
 Also help further organizational and research skills, while giving students a violence-free opportunity to discuss topics that, let's say, aren't supposed to be talked about at the dinner table. 

How can you reach us?    
Advisor: Andrea Vaccaro andrea.vaccaro@raritanval.edu

Education Club 
Our goal is to come together and to reach out to less fortunate students by raising money and participating in events to help better their education.

What are our meetings like?
During our meetings we collaborate ideas to plan and carry out a goal and/or plan upcoming events.   

What do we do?
This year the Education Club is raising money and collecting school supplies to be donated to less fortunate students in our area or around the world.  

How can you reach us?  
Advisor: Kimberley Schirner, Kimberley.Schirner@raritanval.edu  
Email: educationclub@stu.raritanval.edu

Social Media 
Twitter

Enactus
A community of student, academic and business leaders committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to transform lives and shape a better more sustainable world. Enactus explores modern business practices and provides networking opportunities to its members, including a national exposition event. 

What are our meetings like?
Our meetings involve a number of teams that help to run individual projects. Members work collaboratively to meet objectives, inspire new ideas, and to use their classroom experience in a real world situation.   

What do we do?
Enactus can be thought of as a unique mix of entrepreneurial practice and philanthropy. The student organization works to ensure sustainable projects in order to better serve people in need locally, state-wide, and even internationally. 

What can Enactus do for you?
Enactus offers an opportunity to apply everything you have learned in the classroom to real projects that deal with real businesses. The experience you will gain, as well as the benefit it will have on your resume, makes this student organization a valuable life-long credential.   

How can you reach us?  
Advisor: Tracy Rimple, Tracy.Rimple@raritanval.edu 
Email: enactus@stu.raritanval.edu 
Affiliation: Enactus Worldwide 
 

Social Media
Facebook

Engineering Club
Consists of students interested in pursuing engineering and other science-related fields, such as architecture, engineering technology, CAD, physics, computer science, and others.

What are our meetings like?
Our meetings are active gatherings of Engineering and Science students who wish to learn more about Engineering and working as a team.

What do we do?
The club's activities are varied and include guest lectures, facility tours/trips, construction competitions, and community construction projects. Our current community project is a service learning collaboration with the Ethicon & Bound Brook High School FIRST robotics team. 

How can you reach us?  
Advisor: Peter Stupak, Peter.Stupak@raritanval.edu

Social Media
Facebook Group
Facebook Page

Environmental Club
Seeks to positively affect the community and to create environmental awareness and eco-friendly living by making the campus more “green” through education and community projects.

What are our meetings like?
Environmental Club meetings are all about taking action – both to benefit and learn from our campus and local environments. 

What do we do?
We raise organic fruits and vegetables, help restore local forests and other habitats, sell organic/fair-trade coffee and chocolate, participate in beach and stream clean-ups, support campus sustainability events, make maple syrup and natural soap, and go on hikes and camping/canoeing trips. We also sponsor campus-wide trips to such places the New York Botanical Garden, Bronx Zoo, the Atlantic Rainforest of Brazil, the Lakota Wolf Preserve, People’s Climate March in NYC, and more. 

How can you reach us?
Advisora: Jay Kelly, Jay.Kelly@raritanval.edu
Emilie Stander, Emilie.Stander@raritanval.edu

ESL
The ESL Student Club aims to promote social interactions between ESL students and their non-ESL peers in an effort to enrich their college experience while they assimilate and adapt to American life. The main goal of our club is to provide ESL students with a safe space to share experiences and concerns, where they can feel at home and build a sense of belonging and community.

What are our meetings like?
You can expect a relaxed and friendly atmosphere where we have support group sessions, 
technology info sessions in different languages (explaining how to use Lions Den, Canvas, student 
email…), and English learning workshops, while sharing life and learning experiences, multicultural 
exchange, networking with other clubs, playing games from different countries, and learning new English vocabulary.

What do we do?
Learning from each other, appreciating our origins, and engaging in intercultural interaction while being connected by one thing in common: improving our English understanding and adapting to American Culture. 

How can you reach us? 
Advisor:  Andrea Vaccaro,  avaccaro@raritanval.edu 
Co-Advisor: Ivalis Henderson, Ivalis.Henderson@raritanval.edu

Film Club
We are a student-based organization that fosters creativity, originality, and team work through the art of film making. We promote networking with other student-based organizations through the creation of video promotional material.  

What are our meetings like?
During meetings we examine aspects of film, storyboard ideas for short films and develop different events on campus centered around film.

What do we do?
We discuss films that interest us and develop short films as a team. 

How can you reach us?
Advisor: Evan Walter, Evan.Walter@raritanval.edu

Game Creation Club
To enhance the creative skills of students interested in game development through team-oriented activities that build upon creative individual and group skills.

How can you reach us?
Advisor: William Crosbie, William.Crosbie@raritanval.edu

Noteworthy
Our mission is to put out and present performance-ready and professional pieces to the campus and the local community. We expect our members to make a substantial commitment to the group in order to assure that we are performance ready at a professional level.  

What are our meetings like?
The club is an a cappella singing club. The meetings are rehearsals. 

What do we do?
The club performs occasional events around campus. 

How can you reach us?
Advisor: John Sichel, John.Sichel@raritanval.edu

Improv Club
We bring students together to get to know each other in a fun environment. Improvisation teaches students to listen, be aware of other players, to have clarity in communication and to have the confidence to find choices instinctively and spontaneously. It gives students the opportunity to express themselves creatively and trains them to live in the moment and simply enjoy the moment.

How can you reach us?
Advisor: San Solu, San.Solu@RaritanVal.edu

Math Club
A community of students interested in mathematics, with the goal of promoting math majors and preparing tutors for the tutoring center.

What do we do?
RVCC Math Club is engaged in working on academically extremely advanced projects. These projects typically take about 2 years to complete as there is an immense amount of research to be done along the way (none of the necessary concepts are thought at RVCC). Our last project (completed in the Fall 2015 Semester) is an Autonomous Car Project which was funded by RVCC Foundation. Our students (members) were able to rival those of MIT, Stanford, NJIT and companies like Google and Tesla to a create self-driving vehicle. RVCC is the only community college in the world that possesses such technology. 
 

How can you reach us?
We meet a few times a week to discuss math, physics, engineering, design, programming and also meet (off campus) to construct devices. Due to a very steep learning curve and level at which the research is done, we welcome all of those who love to learn. We do not discriminate on the basis of the major; anyone can be a member of our club, just have an open mind. Also we like you more if you play video games. 

Advisor: Nemanja Nikitovic, Nemanja.Nikitovic@raritanval.edu

Paralegal Club
Fosters interest in legal assisting as a career and seeks to provide educational and skill-building opportunities for its members.

How can you reach us?
Advisor: Nicole Casciola, nicole.casciola@raritanval.edu
Affiliation: Paralegal Association of New Jersey

Philosophy Club
Provides a forum outside of the classroom for those interested in philosophical study and debate.

What do we do?
The RVCC Philosophy club meets regularly to discuss ideas both timely and timeless. The group often selects authors and texts of interest to its members to read and discuss. We also have guest lectures, panel discussions, and help to organize the annual RVCC Philosophy Symposium.

How can you reach us? 
Advisor: Brandyn Heppard, Brandyn.Heppard@raritanval.edu

Pre-Med Club
The RVCC Pre-Medicine Club is aimed towards motivated, determined individuals looking to pursue a career in medicine. We serve as the first club on campus to target specifically students that plan to pursue a graduate program such as medical school and physician assistant school. We work together to keep everyone updated and on top of the process of applying to medical school, including announcing research opportunities and ensuring everyone knows how to spend their undergraduate years to make themselves competitive. Together, we build an intimate community of fellow pre-medicine students to motivate, and help one another with each of our journeys towards our end goal of a career in healthcare.

What are our meetings like? Our meetings are broken down into informative meetings and presentation days. On informative meeting days, the meeting will be structured around important topics including how to study for the MCAT, to how to get yourself involved in volunteering abroad. On presentation days, our committee officers gather their research about research opportunities, internship opportunities, and volunteer opportunities and present them to the club with the following application links to apply to. The purpose of these days is to educate all members of opportunities that they can apply for to build their resume for a competitive pre-medicine resume.

What do we do? As a pre-medicine club member, you come to weekly meetings that occur during college hour. As a group, we will start each meeting off with a medical related video, and then move into our informative topic for the day. We brainstorm of things we can be doing to get a head start on the process (for example, if we are talking about the MCAT that day, we will think and outline all of the routes you could be successful in studying for the MCAT and achieve a high score). At the end of the meeting is when we put our heads together to think of a good team activity for the month such as building first aid kits for the less fortunate and bake sales to raise money for the club. Leadership positions are available and are encouraged!

How can you reach us?
Advisor: Ahmed Katsha, ahmed.katsha@raritanval.edu
Check out The Record's Spotlight on Pre-Med Club

Psychology Club
The club promotes the professional development of psychology students through promotion and recognition of excellence in scholarship, leadership, research, and community service.

What are our meetings like?
You can expect a relaxed and friendly atmosphere where the meetings are split up into two categories: Brainstorming and Conversation. Our meetings are personal, so expect to meet and interact with new people. Brainstorming includes planning, throwing ideas at each other, and coming up with new ways that help you engage with the student body. The conversation aspect is not only be a psychological conversation, but an open conversation for anyone and everyone to talk, vent, and help each other.

What do we do?
We explore mental health, and find ways to cope with the everyday struggles college students have. We offer events that embrace creativity and expression, and learn about some ways to get yourself through hard times. 

How can you reach us? 
Advisor: Isabelle Gutierrez, Isabelle.Gutierrez@raritanval.edu
Affiliation: Psi Beta National Honor Society in Psychology

Raritan Valley Radio
The club promotes and encourages the expression of individuality through a positive media outlet. Students provide talk shows, music, news, sports, and local weather to the community. Students also provide free entertainment services such as hosting and disc jockey services to support RVCC clubs and campus events.

What are our meetings like?
We meet in H116. Our meetings are brief and consist of weekly updates and creative ideas that members can embrace for future use. RVR is currently working closely with The Record to help maintain a consistent news outlet for students, by club members.

What do we do?
Members are encouraged to express themselves on every level. We like to see creative show ideas, which share a mix between talk and music. We also DJ/Co-Host most RVCC Campus events. If you have any interest in mixing music or are an MC/DJ we want to hear from you!

How can you reach us?
Advisor: Bick Treut, Bick.Treut@raritanval.edu  
Email: rvradio@raritanval.edu

Record Online
The Record is Raritan Valley Community College’s independent student-managed, on-line newspaper. It a medium for information related to the college community, as well as an outlet for students to practice writing, video, photo, graphic design and web design skills. The mission of The Record is to report campus news, news of interest to our students and publicize matters of concern to the college community.

What are our meetings like?
We work together to discuss ideas for articles based on matters of concern that the college community should hear. We also use this time to help each other develop articles and discuss other newspaper business.

What do we do?
Students learn how to gather information for news articles and how to write for a newspaper. We then use these skills to bring news to the college community.

How can you reach us? 
Advisor: 
Email: rvcctherecord@gmail.com
Campus Media: The Record, Online 

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Social Media
Facebook
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RVCC Dance Club 
The RVCC Dance Club is a student-run academic club. This club offers a variety of styles of dance, as well as a variety of levels. Styles include jazz, contemporary, modern, ballet, tap and hip-hop. The club provides students with a place to explore and create in the field of dance. Students take classes in different dance styles, learn choreography or show their choreography to others. The RVCC Dance Club is a great place to have fun, exercise and be creative! We are always open to new members even without dance experience so come dance with us!

What are our meetings like?
Our meetings vary from dance classes taught by master artists (professional in the field) to student run classes. Sometime we focus on technique and sometimes on creativity! Sometimes we do stretching, sometimes Chinese dance. Every semester is different.  There is also Informances, which offer students the opportunity to show something they are working on…whether it’s dance, music, singing, film, poetry, etc. Wearing comfortable clothing is a must! Meetings include different choreography, rehearsals and practices so be ready to move!

What do we do?
Students can take a class, or group to create their own choreography, practice it, and then show the work. Students have performed in the RVCC DanceWorks concert, Informal Showings, Campus events, Flash mobs and off site performances. In addition, we help sponsor the annual trip to the American College Dance Conference, where RVCC students get to take classes and show their work. Our goal is to provide quality dance and we thrive on dance being artistic AND entertaining!

How can you reach us?  
Advisor: Loretta Fois, Loretta.Fois@RaritanVal.edu

SOTAA
The Student Occupational Therapy Assistant Association (SOTAA) of Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) is an organization dedicated to promoting occupational therapy and educating the public about the profession's varied services.  We aim to enrich others' lives and leave a lasting impression through the use of meaningful, client-centered occupations and activities.  We will accomplish this by engaging in community service and fundraising initiatives, while we continuously learn and grow together.

What are our meetings like?
We meet once a month to discuss trends in the profession as well as community service opportunities.

What do we do?
We work in the community to raise awareness about Occupational Therapy, and build relationships with businesses in the community.

How can you reach us?
Advisor:  Kimberly Meany, kimberly.meany@raritanval.edu

Student Nurses Association (SNA)
The SNA is dedicated to bettering the school, community, and beyond. We run fundraisers, hold health information sessions, and participate in, or head, any event that betters some aspect of health and well being. For example, we have helped with blood drives, run car washes for charity, and given our time to volunteer at holiday events for children battling cancer. Currently, are all nursing students, or prospective nursing students.  However, we welcome anyone, with open arms, who wants to join in our mission of help and caring! 

What are our meetings like?
Our meetings are the first or second Thursday of each month (4:30-5:30) and/or the first or second Monday of each month (11:30-12:30).  We discuss the success of completed events, and plan out the meeting and activities for the future month. Each person does their individual part and brings that to each meeting.

How can you reach us? 
Advisor: Mary Ann Balut, MaryAnn.Balut@raritanval.edu 
Affiliation: National Student Nurses Association