By Saguaro
Long ago, when I roamed this earth as a freshman at Bing, I was nervous about joining clubs. For those current freshmen out there, fear not, for I have arrived, ready to deliver crucial information concerning the various extracurricular activities found on campus—particularly ones that I have experience with.
Campus Survival Games
Before I go into depth about this club, I will say that although I haven’t spent MUCH time with this club, it is intriguing. In my youth—many years ago—I yearned to have long and grueling battles with Nerf guns blasters, firing bullets darts at my friends mortal enemies. After some experience with the group, I can confirm that it is immensely enjoyable.
It has a competitive atmosphere but also can be a great place to hang out with friends and have nice conversations between firing rounds at them. The overall rating of my experience – is 8/10, would recommend. Show up to their meetings, and bring victims friends along for an enhanced experience. One last tip, when playing a team game, it may be best to pick one person you are hanging out with as a sacrifice to send to the other team. That way, you can all enjoy the experience of targeting friends.
Binghamton Gaming Group/Board Game Group
Next up on the chopping block is this club, and it’s pretty self-explanatory: you go there, talk to people (optional), and play board games. There’s a lot to choose from, and whether you want something quick where you can get lots of games in, or a drawn out 4-hour long slog of endless rule-checking and tense negotiations, all for everyone to either completely forget by the next week or hold grudges against one person for a single action they took in a long, long, game. All said it can be a great way to meet new people. Even if you don’t want that, find people you do know to drag along, and simply play with them, rather than being social and talking to strangers. I would rate it a firm 9/10, and a great place to be if you stay in on Friday nights. Similar advice as the previous club, bullying friends is very enjoyable.
Fencing
Of all the clubs in this list, this is the only club sport that I know about (somewhat). Fencing is the only club sport I really like, mostly because I think that swords are pretty cool. It’s pretty fun, there are a few different types: some are more on the stabbing side of things, with others for slashing. It’s an opportunity for some great exercise and a pretty cool sport to get involved in. One other important note, you don’t need equipment to get into it; you just need to be there. I myself love excessive violence with bladed weapons, so I find fencing a very exciting sport to partake in.
Binghamton Review
Now, of all the clubs written about here, Binghamton Review brings by far the least to the table when it comes to interesting things to do while in the club. All you really do is write. And yes, often the writing will be a bit funny. But often, it can just be bland and boring, like a less published Pipe Dream without the fluff of someone talking about sports. With Binghamton Review, it’s all about what you bring to the club, which, for some, might be one article at the beginning of the year, and then never showing up to another meeting out of embarrassment because you missed the deadline for the first release of the semester while you wrote about a topic that might be time sensitive. But don’t worry, that definitely won’t be me. Anyway, it’s a pretty chill club if you like writing, but otherwise, it might be nice to find something that suits your own interests.
At this point in an article, you might find a conclusion where the writer wraps everything up with a call to action for the readers, saying something like “but there’s tons of clubs here, with something for every interest,” but I know there isn’t. And even if there is, it might not function to your liking. Others would say “if there’s nothing you find interesting, found a club of your own,” but again, you might not end up with a well-populated club, and from what I understand, it takes a bit of work to get a club registered, and it might not be for you. It is for these reasons that I suggest to those trying to find a place to fit in to look at classmates. Sometimes, you’ll be taking classes with people who have similar interests to you, so you can meet people there. Anyway, if you’re interested in any of the clubs mentioned above, good luck.