There’s a lot of thought that goes into creating a club on campus at UCF. Ben Heller, a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity, is amongst those students who plan to create one of their own.

I sat down with Ben and got all the details on the club he is hoping to get approved by SGA. It got me questioning, what does it take to start a club on campus? He filled me in on all the aspects that go into creating a club, and let me be the first to tell you, there’s a lot you need to brainstorm before you approach the approval.

Q: What exactly is your club?

A: This club is called Wings for UCF and will be an easy way for students to get some real world experience in marketing, ad/PR and promotions, within a team based, stress-free environment. It will be a way for students to learn and enhance essential skills in business that all employers are looking for such as: ability to work in teams, communication, networking, time-management, just to list a few.

Q: What inspired you to come up with the idea?

A: Strangely enough, this idea all started with Red Bull. Red Bull has a great student internship program that I am extremely interested in. My friend told me that as a Red Bull rep the company wants you to use your imagination and push the boundaries to find the best way to promote their product in the most creative way possible. Hence their slogan "Red Bull gives you wings," translated as the sky is the limit. This mentality led me to think, "Why don't we have an opportunity like this for all students?" This is a great way to for students to express their creativity and learn life-long skills that all employers and professors have been preaching to us to learn. And on top of that, this will give you some concrete material to put on your resume and to talk about in interviews.

Q: Did you come up with it on your own or with help?

A: My friend Morgan actually helped me come up with the idea. It quickly evolved into a student helping student service where we will be a non for profit marketing firm essentially. We will have an organization, depending on how many students we have possibly more, and our goal will be to take their event and make it the best event they have ever put on. I want students to be able to see success and feel the achievement of helping a fellow student organization out. Also for them to break all their attendance, fundraising, and charitable records for that organization, depending on what the goals of that organization are.

Q: What are you hoping will come out of this club?

A: I’m hoping that this club will give students these life-long essential business characteristics and make them more valuable than a student not in our club to a prospective employer. And hopefully, as we get bigger, students will be able to choose which organization event they want to market so they can see the direct impact of their efforts on the organization that they truly care about.

Q: Will LXA have any influence on this club?

A: LXA can have an influence on this club but it's not influencing the club currently. What I mean by this is, maybe LXA will have an event that a group of students want to work on to make it succeed. The students will work together to figure out the best way to use online and face-to-face marketing to make this event the best event that the organization has ever put on with the help of Wings for UCF.

Q: Has the club been started already or is it still in the works?

A: The club is in the very early stages. I just got my professor to sponsor the club, the next step is to give it to SGA to get the process going with getting it approved, fingers crossed.

Q: How does someone start their own club at UCF?

A: There are multiple steps with starting a club at UCF. You need a sponsor and a club that isn't already made at UCF. Then the process gets taken to SGA for approval and verification and then we get into the logistics.

Q: How do you plan to promote your club to the students at UCF?

A: I plan to use business classrooms and Greek organizations to promote my club. I've already asked around and everyone I've spoken to has given me great feedback. Every college student is looking for the next great thing to put on their resume to make them stand out from the student sitting next to them. Well with Wings for UCF, the opportunity is knocking on their front door, by getting hands-on experience with some concrete numbers and material to put on your resume, you can impress future employers with. This club will hopefully promote itself, but I will use my connections to help boost the process.

Q: Is your club going to require any kind of dues?

A: I'm not sure about the dues quite yet. It depends on if we have any costs and what we plan to do with the students when we get started. If we charge dues, it would be to pay for some lunch-ins where we have speakers come and talk to us about their experiences in the business world, or to use that money to help market the event that we are working on. The idea would be that the dues would pay for the ideas of the students, so they can have a bigger scope of what they can do to market their event.

Q: How often are you planning on getting your members together?

A: I would plan on having the club meet either weekly or biweekly. These meetings will be time for students to talk about their pros and cons, along the process so everyone can learn what works and what doesn't work. We will also have guest speakers to tell students about their experiences that they'll be able to take with them when going about marketing their event and working with teams.