With the fall semes­ter start­ing in less than a week, many stu­dents are bogged down with thoughts of books and home­work. Even though the begin­ning of the semes­ters her­alds the return to the daily grind, school does not always have to be all work and no play.

There are more than 210 Registered Student Organizations (RSO) to occupy stu­dent inter­ests. These orga­ni­za­tions vary from sports, faith-based, media and enter­tain­ment, soror­i­ties and fra­ter­ni­ties, pol­i­tics, music, the­atre, mul­ti­cul­tural, diverse sexual-orientation, and col­lege depart­ments clubs.

Fraternities and Sororities are some of the first stu­dent orga­ni­za­tions that come to many stu­dents’ mind when con­sid­er­ing cam­pus involve­ment. Ferris State University has many chap­ters of Greek com­mu­ni­ties. Contrary to how fra­ter­ni­ties and soror­i­ties are por­trayed in movies and on tele­vi­sion, these orga­ni­za­tions par­tic­i­pate in the com­mu­nity and help stu­dents gain employ­able skills.

Nicole Raymond, a tech­ni­cal and pro­fes­sional com­mu­ni­ca­tion and pub­lish­ing major, is a mem­ber of Sigma Tau Delta, which is the English hon­ors society.

“Networking is the key ele­ment of being a part of any orga­ni­za­tion on cam­pus, know­ing the right peo­ple is some­thing that can help you along your job search,” said Raymond. “Honestly, the biggest thing I have learned is net­work­ing and know­ing some­one who knows some­one is a hid­den “in” when job searching.”

The Black Greek Council Fraternities & Sororities, Interfraternity Council, and Professional Fraternities & Sororities are also orga­ni­za­tions on campus.

Although Ferris has its own foot­ball team among other sports, there are sev­eral club sports for stu­dents to enjoy. Jessie Hunt, busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion and human resource major, recalls join­ing the Athletic Dance Team her fresh­man year.

“I was a dancer all my life so it was nice that Ferris had a dance team so that I could con­tinue to do what I love,” said Hunt, May 2009 grad­u­ate. “I joined my fresh­man year and made manys friends, attended lots of social events, and learned a lot about how to sur­vive in the col­lege life from my peers.”

Hunt, who even­tu­ally became the pres­i­dent of the dance team, said that being in a leaderhship posi­tion taught her about self dis­ci­pline, man­age­ment, and group dynam­ics. Even though she was a busi­ness major, Hunt said that danc­ing skills helped her relate to her pro­fes­sors and apply their lessons for both busi­ness and dance worlds. She also believes she would not have been involved on cam­pus if she had not been apart of the dance team.

Equestrian, base­ball, bowl­ing, paint­ball, adven­ture rac­ing, disc golf, hockey, soc­cer, table ten­nis, mar­tial arts, the unquiely definded hip-hop dance team, and men’s and women’s rugby, lacrosse,and vol­ley­ball are included in Ferris club sports.

Keith Horvath, tele­vi­sion and dig­i­tal media pro­duc­tion major, has sev­eral clubs to keep him busy. Horvath is the pres­i­dent of the Improv the­ater group and cur­rently par­tic­i­pates in Bulldog Radio.

“I remem­ber being a DJ at the Honors Formal last year and it was a lot of fun and really awe­some,” said Horvath. “Being able to be a part of the rea­son peo­ple were hav­ing fun was was a pretty cool feel­ing and made such an amaz­ing night.”

Student orga­ni­za­tions not only help kill bore­dom, RSOs also give stu­dents a sense of belong­ing and help them assim­i­late into col­lege cul­ture. According to FSU coun­sel­ing ser­vices, stu­dents who par­tic­i­pate in cam­pus organizations/activities have higher GPAs and gen­er­ally cope with stress bet­ter than those who are not involved.

RSOs also look good on resumes and help stu­dents land an intern­ship or job post grad­u­a­tion. Horvath agrees that par­tic­i­pat­ing has helped with their resume.

“Having just one RSO shows employ­ers you can com­mit to some­thing and you can bal­ance your time,” said Horvath.

Now enter­ing the work world, Hunt wants to encour­age all stu­dents to get involved in a club sport or stu­dent organization.

“What are you wait­ing for? There are so many peo­ple to meet, things to see and do, life lessons to be learned, and you’ll miss out on great expe­ri­ences if you don’t,” said Hunt.

For more infor­ma­tion about RSOs visit the Ferris reg­is­ters stu­dent orga­ni­za­tions web­page at fer​ris​.edu or go to Rankin 175.