On 11/15 during the last SGA general board meeting I, Robin Granito, archived Occult Club. Occult club was an important part of my life and I committed myself to it as best as possible. I formed it in fall of 2022 with some friends who were, at the time, a part of the executive board.
The idea behind the club was to have a space to enjoy horror pop culture, folklore, to learn about crystals, and herbs you can use in your everyday life. In the beginning, we had many plans and ideas for the club. We had some presentation nights and fun videos about local and interesting folklore as well as weird history.
Sadly, the executive board got busy and began to fall apart over time, so I was just left running the club. During the summer leading up to the fall semester, I began to plan events and how we could use our money that was given to us for the 2023-2024 academic year. I wanted to make this club thrive and enjoy time in the club. Once the fall semester began, I was hit with physical pain more than usual and stretched myself too thin. I rejoined the Twilight Players, began to work more, and focused on my senior year. I began to neglect the club as much as I didn’t want to.
During this time I realized I needed more executive board members. I began to reach out to friends and other club members to see if they wanted to join, but sadly this was unsuccessful. At every SGA meeting during club updates, I told everyone we were looking for exec board members and if they knew anyone who was interested to let me know. This was unsuccessful in helping me gain any other executive board members. In every club email, I reminded members we needed executive board members. I did this for multiple months. Then the idea of archival came to me. I had talked to multiple friends both in and out of the club as well as my advisor for the club.
On 11/6 I emailed the SGA board to tell them I would be archiving, I waited two days for a response. On 11/8 SGA President Alberto Bustamante reached back out telling me to rethink and how he sees such a bright future for the club. I would like to state that student involvement has been at an all-time low this year and many clubs are struggling. I told him about my physical pain and asked if he knew anyone who would join the exec board please let me know. I also reminded him how many avenues I have tried. On the night of 11/15, I archived my club.
I hope that one day someone sees this club and unarchives it. I wish to see it grow into what I wasn’t able to achieve. I still have the resources that the future club could use, if unarchived. I wan
t to thank all the members who came to the club in the past and everyone who continued to support the club. I also want to thank my closest friends who helped me come to this decision. I appreciate you all. Thank you.
Feature image courtesy of Robin Granito