One of the things that I find different in college versus high school is that clubs and honorary organizations are completely student-run. In my high school, the clubs were run by faculty members, and while there was a student board on them, they didn't really make any executive decisions.
However, at Ohio Wesleyan University, the majority of organizations are student-run. Sure, they have a faculty advisor, but they're there as more of a formality than anything.
And it's amazing.
Being a part of these student-run organizations means you have the freedom to bring the programming you want, do the projects you want and speak freely without the fear of an adult being there. I've seen a lot of clubs on campus do really amazing things that have been brought forth completely by student effort, and they go off without a hitch. It's really amazing to see what students can do and what they can accomplish when they truly care about the events and know it's on them.
I have the pleasure of being in a couple of student-run organizations. My favorite (and the one I'm most active in) is Theta Alpha Phi, the Theatre Honorary Society. We've pulled a couple of smaller events, such as fundraisers and tabling with bake sales to sell tickets for upcoming Mainstage Theatre and Dance Department events, and (in collaboration with Wesleyan Players, the new performing arts club on campus) "Instant Theatre: A 23-Hour Play Festival". All of these were student ideas, and though supervised and approved by the Department, completely student-run. And they went off without a hitch.
What TAP pulled off last Saturday night was a little more ambitious.
We called it a "Choose Your Own Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre"!
Two members wrote the script from scratch, the members of the cast are all students involved in at least three other organizations, and somehow pulled it off, with only three rehearsals!
It was mainly a fundraising event, where people paid an entry fee, sat and had a lovely dinner (I got to eat, too, it was great), and participated in the show. And it was so much fun.
I was, unfortunately, the first to die. Nevertheless, you could tell the audience had fun. The food was amazing, the chocolate cake dessert was to die for (I shoved it in my mouth like my life depended on it) and the audience was so, so interactive!
The show went even better than we could have expected!
And we, as students, have the pride of knowing that we pulled this off all by ourselves.
So yeah. Student-run organizations are great.
