I could barely stumble back to my dorm. I was dizzy and dehydrated. I was covered in sweat – not just my own, but that of thirty other people who I had met just that night. What could I have been doing to end up in this condition? I was contra dancing, of course. Attending the dance reminded me how important and edifying student organizations are for N.C. State students and for the community.

We need more clubs organizing fun activities.Some described contra dancing as an activity similar to line dancing, square dancing or barn dancing.

I would venture to say for most students, the idea of spending a Friday night barn dancing (while sober) doesn’t exactly sound like a good time. However, as peer pressure would have it, I decided to go to the dance. Shirley Law, founder of NCSU’s fledgling Contra Club, was right: “If you can walk, you can dance.”

And dance I did.

About 175 people showed up to the event. Half of them were students, and the other half were people from the community who decided to come.

This whole event – meeting many new people, learning a new skill, and bringing so many people inside and outside the NCSU bubble together – exemplifies the kind of mindset student organizations should have as they go about furthering their interests. And as many of us are members of one organization or another, we can agree that pulling off big events like this is tough. Event planning takes a lot of time and effort by members of that organization. But I feel like we can do more.

Yes, we are able to accomplish great things as students, but we also get involved in a lot of petty squabbling.

To use the example of NCSU’s Contra Club: It is new and hasn’t been burdened with officers, committees, or even money. All they have are a group of people who really like to dance and want to fill a need for local contra dancing.

I am certain that other student groups have similar goals and ideals – that they too work hard and have amazing success stories. It is unfortunate, however, that their accomplishments tend to be shrouded by seedier gossip that other groups generate.

That we should be civil to each other is not a new idea, but it seems that we are too quick to accept the fact that “people will disagree” as an excuse for poor planning and disorganization. I think we should be able to get past that and work on being helpful to the community rather than padding a resume.

Swinging a partner around until one is afflicted with dizziness is fun. We definitely need more clubs like that.

Tell Jay your thoughts about fun student organizations to [email protected].