On Saturday, March 15, Grand Valley State University’s Indian Association celebrated Holi with an evening of music, dance and rejuvenation. The free event, which was supported by the Asian Student Appreciation Program (ASAP) and the Kaufman Interfaith Institute, was open to all

students and their families, and encouraged participants to increase their awareness of the traditional festival.

Holi, which has roots in Indian culture, was first mentioned in historical texts that date as far back as the seventh century. The holiday primarily signifies the end of winter and the beginning of the spring season, which has associations with renewal and the end of conflict. Joy and love are the central themes of this celebration. Another important aspect of Holi is the idea of play. Colored water and powder are thrown by those who engage in the holiday, which puts a focus on happiness within the community. Holi is a time of carefree togetherness.

Read more of Christina Bilko’s coverage of the GVSU Holi celebration here.

GV Camp Kesem chapter supports families with cancer

Kesem is an organization that aims to provide support for over 9,000 children age six-18 that have parents diagnosed with cancer. Through their primary service, Camp Kesem, counselors and campers take part in a summertime experience that gives children the tools they need to successfully navigate difficult times. Grand Valley State University’s chapter of Camp Kesem fundraises, provides resources to families and hosts a camp for children living in the Grand Rapids area.

Camp Kesem provides a summer camp experience for children, and includes many classic activities, such as arts and crafts, archery, swimming and other games. The interpersonal and practical skills children learn during their time at camp help them both during and after the processing of their parents’ illnesses. However, it’s different from a traditional summer camp, as time is cultivated for campers and counselors to bond through nightly cabin chats. By centering mental health, counselors aim to support the children of cancer patients. The bonds that children form with each other through living and learning together expands Kesem’s community, which results in a continuous stream of relationships.

Read more of Christina Bilko’s club spotlight on Camp Kesem here.

Students traverse Global Language and Culture Festival

On Thursday, March 20, the Modern Languages and Literatures Department at Grand Valley State University held its annual Global Language and Culture

Festival. The event, which celebrates international diversity through music, food and educational booths, served as a chance for students and faculty to learn about global cultures and experiences that are available to them through the University’s Study Abroad program.

Students who attended the event had the opportunity to check in at the entrance, and were given a small “passport” booklet. As they visited different booths and learned about unique cultural elements, they were able to collect stamps. One way to earn a stamp, for example, was to say a tongue twister in Chinese. The festival’s cultural immersion experiences highlighted how international experiences can shape personal and professional growth, and leave lasting impressions for years to come.

Read more of Abbie Suarez’s coverage of the Global Language and Culture Festival here.

President’s Forum highlights evolving education, industry dynamics

Kristen Fox, the managing director of the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) addressed a packed Loosemore Auditorium during Grand Valley State University’s annual President’s Forum. On Tuesday, March 25, GVSU President Philomena Mantella introduced Fox and later joined her on stage for a wide-ranging dialogue about the future of higher education, partnerships with business and shifting workforce dynamics.

BHEF is a national nonprofit that unites corporate and higher education leaders to address skills gaps and workforce readiness. Fox’s presentation, which was grounded in national data and years of BHEF research, examined how colleges and universities can better serve students and regional economies by embedding real-world skills, building partnerships and embracing flexible, lifelong learning pathways.

Read more of Abbie Suarez’s coverage of the 2025 President’s Forum here.

Group members meet weekly in the Russel H. Kirkhof Center to discuss current events and political issues that affect GVSU students. Voices for Justice researches local volunteering and fundraising activities to take part in and offers space for members to discuss their thoughts and opinions. Meetings are prioritized as a time to connect with one another, emphasized by their casual and conversational atmosphere.

“Voices for Justice is an organization that prioritizes and expresses the importance of human rights,” said Gabrielle Salinas, the club’s president. “We heavily focus on what we can do for others and how we can make a difference. Everyone who is a part of Voices for Justice is compassionate, positive and supportive of each other.”

Recently, Voices for Justice engaged in an opportunity to assist refugees through volunteer work. Students worked with the Chicago Refugee Coalition, a nonprofit organization that works to provide support and resources to refugees as they begin their lives in the United States.

“During our time volunteering, we provided individuals with items such as clothing, accessories, sanitary products and food,” said Chloe Ward, vice president of Voices for Justice. “We were able to help support families who were in need of certain products.

Voices for Justice also encourages student participation through movie screenings. In February, the organization held a screening of “42: The Jackie Robinson Story.” The film was chosen to highlight Robinson’s impact on the sport and promote awareness of Black excellence. On Monday, March 31, the group showed “Hidden Figures.” The 2016 biographical film follows Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, three women who worked as NASA mathematicians in the 1960s. After viewing, participants discussed the film’s themes and fostered conversation about identity and discrimination.

“A major takeaway from the film is the portrayal of racial and gender barriers,” Salinas said. “The film allowed us to have conversations about how far society has come in terms of racial and gender equality, but also how much further there still is to go in many fields.”

Salinas said the club will continue to host film events in order to increase awareness for the student body, and give attendees a forum to discuss and consider complex issues.

Voices for Justice members are looking forward to an upcoming Thrift Swap, which will be hosted on Monday, April 7 on the Kirkhof Lawn. During this time, students can bring items to donate and receive other clothing items in exchange. The event will also serve to promote the organization to prospective members.

“You can bring any clothes or accessories you no longer need or want and swap them out with something else,” Ward said. “We have implemented a system where each clothing item is worth a certain number of tickets. For every item you bring, you will receive tickets and use your tickets like money.”

Ward said any clothing or accessories left over will be donated.

By aiming to advocate for human rights in an approachable way, Voices for Justice attempts to reach a wider audience and spread a message of humanity, equity and solidarity. Imparting such values can help raise awareness of local and global issues that affect many individuals, including students, on a daily basis.

In D&D, players form small groups and work collaboratively to create characters who fulfill different roles within a fantasy setting. Characters are assigned many attributes and skills throughout multiple game sessions, which are also referred to campaigns. Campaigns are usually organized and moderated by a Dungeon Master (DM). DMs are responsible for inventing the plotlines and events that players will encounter. They also encourage players to think of solutions and actions their characters can take to overcome trials. 

Ethan Dibling, a sophomore at GVSU, explained that DMs are seen as a guide for players to follow.

“We (DMs) don’t stop you from doing things unless it completely breaks the reality of the game, but it very rarely reaches that point,” Dibling said. “You can think of a DM as a dam controlling the flow of water. We keep the story flowing at a rate at which it can be understood and interacted with.”

Rachel Miller, the group’s membership officer, feels that D&D and other role playing games are about creating a world of your own.

“D&D is one kind of tabletop, role playing game, which as a whole are games made collaboratively by a group of players,” said Miller. “(The players) follow a set of rules that allow for creative storytelling. The first time someone sits down to play D&D, they realize that anything is possible, and the game is a freeing space to experiment and have fun.”

The club was created at GVSU in 2020, and has been home to a steady group of core members, as well as a regular influx of new players. Sessions usually occur in multiple rooms of the Kirkhof Center, offering spacious conditions for the large number of campaigns that take place at the same time. This also lends itself to the collaborative nature of the game that allows unfamiliar participants to ask questions and get to know the other players. 

“D&D Club is an inclusive environment where anyone can come to hang out and play a cool game for a few hours,” Miller said. “We want everyone to have fun in community with each other, and introduce everyone to tabletop role playing through D&D.”

The group also has a strong online presence in order to better foster community among its members. According to Miller, the E-Board of D&D Club hosts a variety of events through Discord, in addition to during meetings. Miller noted the group runs mock auctions for magical items over Discord, and that they hosted a dice raffle for Valentine’s Day.

Through weekly meetings and online activities, D&D Club brings a unique angle to the structure of a student organization. The community of tabletop game enthusiasts has an appeal that many students find engaging and enjoyable. The group meets weekly from 6:30-9:30 p.m. on Fridays.

Grand Valley State University’s Boxing Club aims to offer a recreational and competitive boxing space for students.  

The club holds practices on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings. The first two practices of the week are led by their coaches Dennis Shimmell and Sarah Rae Batenburg.

Batenburg is a GVSU alum and former club president. She helps support the competitive side of the club. Batenburg was the first female to compete in the boxing club. During her time at GVSU, she won a Michigan Golden Gloves title and three United States Intercollegiate Boxing Association (USIBA) national titles. 

In these coach-led practices the athletes participate in sparring with each other, a live-action simulation of a real fight to prepare athletes for future matches. Then, on Fridays, practices are led by the club’s Eboard members.

The club’s vice president Ryan Landgren described a typical practice.

“(We) will start with warm-ups, which include stretching, push-ups, abdominal exercises, some cardio and shadow boxing. Afterward, we will break up into even groups for heavy bag drills. While doing bag drills, we’ve been having females who want to spar, and then later on it will switch to the males sparring who wish to spar,” Landgren said. 

During the club meetings, sparring is not required, but the club does focus on that competitive aspect of boxing to help prepare members who wish to transition to the competitive side of the sport. 

“People who come to practice can expect a hard workout, but they will be supported by their teammates, as we are all trying to support each other and make it a welcoming and fun environment,” Landgren said. 

The group’s atmosphere aims to be welcoming to all experience levels. Landgren said he was inspired to take a leadership role to shape a positive culture for the club and help the organization transition from a less structured recreational club to one that offered a competitive aspect. 

Landgren said the Eboard used to be short-staffed contributing to burnout. Now with more involvement and dedicated officers, the club is experiencing a turnaround in leadership and member excitement. 

The club competes throughout the year at the MGGA St. Mary’s Boxing Gym downtown, at an annual competition the weekend of the Superbowl called Pre Super Bowl Fight Night and at the USIBA nationals tournament. In the fall of 2022, Alexander Dietrichan, an international student who was with the club for one semester, competed at the USIBA competition. Landgren said it was his favorite memory in the club. 

“It was great because we had close to ten club members at the event to watch him (Dietrichan) fight, and it was a great team bonding experience,” Landgren said.

Landgren said the club has given him a sense of community at GVSU and is a large reason why he stayed at school after finding friends and getting involved. 

“It unlocked opportunities for me in the amateur boxing world as I’ve gotten offered to announce jobs across west Michigan over the summer,” Landgren said.

The Eboard said boxing is an excellent way to relieve stress and stay active. It also helps students keep a balanced lifestyle like maintaining a balanced diet to stay at their match weight and be fueled for practice. Outside of practice, the club members do cardio workouts to increase stamina for fights. 

Landgren said he hopes to see this momentum in competition interest and involvement continue by expanding the organization and maintaining new members.  

“I also hope to see us succeed at competitions this year as we managed to be undefeated in the previous school year. I would like to see more members compete this year,” Landgren said. “Most importantly, I really hope that we keep the happy environment that we have this year.” 

This year is Fishladder’s 20th anniversary. Fishladder is a student-run publication run through the VMA department that’s published once a school year. They publish students’ works in photography, writing and artwork. The Fishladder takes student submissions until the end of the first semester, then uses the rest of the school year to put the journal together. The Fishladder has editors for each section, as well as reviewers of the artworks and writing submissions.

Bruna Ngassa is this year’s editor-in-chief of the Fishladder. Ngassa is in charge of everything from the hiring process to the final say in what’s published in this year’s edition.

“In the beginning of the school year, my first order of business was securing a staff of editors and readers,” Ngassa said.

Even though the process for hiring editors was long, it opened up an opportunity for Ngassa to learn.

Next year, the Fishladder will have a new editor-in-chief, Ashlyn Miller. Miller is currently the assistant editor.

“Right now, I essentially work as the co-editor to the Editor In Chief,” Miller said. “This includes aiding in administrative and editorial tasks and helping make the final decisions for what pieces will be included in the new issue.” 

Fishladder has 13 editors, including assistant editors for the sections to back up the main editors and help with their needs. 

“My favorite part of being on staff for the Fishladder is the amazing work I get to see in all genres and from students in a variety of disciplines,” Miller said. “The hardest part of the job is trying to figure out which pieces to include in the new issue. It feels impossible with all the excellent work that gets submitted.” 

The Fishladder receives many pieces of student-made works, which then undergo the publication’s selection process. This stage is where the readers and advisors come into play. They look over the art pieces and writing submissions and help decide which are going into the publication. 

Liv Chow, a senior student at Grand Valley State University, is the editor of the art and photography section in Fishladder.

“I can’t speak for the other editors, but the way I conduct my reviewing of the work is by sending out an online survey to my reviewers that they can fill out at their leisure to give their feedback on the artwork,” Chow said. “After I receive the feedback, I add up the quantitative data and compile the qualitative data, then rank the images from most preferred to be added to the issue, to least preferred.”

The Fishladder has its own editors, but they consider the reviews and readers just as important.

“The part of putting my section together that takes the longest is waiting for the feedback from my reviewers,” Chow said. “Other than that, the making of the survey only takes an hour or two, and the compiling of data takes a couple of hours. After that, our roles as art and photography editors/reviewers are pretty much done.”

The Fishladder is accepting staff applications and submission samples for the yearly publication during the first semester of the year. The Fishladder is open to students of any major at multiple levels of experience, making it a great opportunity for any students on campus that want to show off their creativity and become published artists.

“In future years, Fishladder would love to have more contributions in the art and photography sector,” Chow said. “Contributions from anyone passionate about art and photography are more than welcome to join the staff and review work as well.”

For more information about the Fishladder staff and its upcoming issue, those interested can visit the GVSU Fishladder website. 

“We welcome artists of any background to join our club and participate in fun illustration events and meetings and bond together over our artistic hobbies,” said Kri Hackos, the group’s social media manager. “If a prospective student is even a smidge interested in art, even as a hobby, they are totally welcome.”

The group meets every Thursday from 8 to 10 p.m. in Calder Art Center, room 1510. SIGIL aims to create a space for illustrators of all skill levels and interests to have a creative outlet each week.

In addition to the weekly meetings the club holds, they also participate in activities across campus. Last week, on Feb. 13 and 14 the club set up a table in the Kirkof lobby to sell Valentine’s Day cards. 

Other themed weekly meetings have focused on “life drawing night” or “draw from memory night.” In the past year, the group also did another work day while they attended a LinkedIn panel about being an intern hosted by Adobe and moderated by SIGIL’s then Vice President. The panel was full of four current and recent interns at companies like NASA, Nike, Tesla and Apple.

“Usually we do different art-related activities every week that all the club members can participate in no matter your skill level,” Hackos said. “Our group of artists are very talented and love the work they create. They make for a great environment to push your own creative boundaries and have fun at the same time.”

The group also has a discord where members can get to know each other and share current work, receive opinions and ideas from others and trade drawing prompts amongst other art-related discourse. 

The organization’s main objective is to support its members during difficult times. Jenna Cronan, host of the club’s first meeting, said she wants people to feel understood and welcomed when dealing with problems that often feel isolating – especially being away from home. 

“I wanted to start something because it’s so hard being a young person with any type of chronic condition because I just think people don’t get it, and they think that if you look fine, then you are fine,” Cronan said. “I think it can be really lonely to deal with something internally and not have it visible from the outside.”

Cronan said juggling school and her health is hard, and she thought it would be nice if members could all relate to and support one another. 

During the meeting, members were encouraged to write down and share their general stories of chronic pain, why they wanted to join the organization and what they hope to get out of future meetings. 

Cronan shared her story first and said she suffers from a poorly-healed back injury she dealt with in high school that continues to worsen. 

“I was very involved in the sport that I did, and going to school senior year, I couldn’t even be in school for more than a month because I couldn’t sit for more than 15 minutes at a time,” Cronan said.

She said her friends didn’t understand or reach out to her as much as she expected them to.

“That was probably the hardest part for me,” Cronan said.  

Another member said she was born with cerebellar tonsillar ectopia, which has worsened with age. A third member then explained her condition, known as Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which she was diagnosed with about a year ago.

The conversation then shifted to how living with chronic pain can impact academics, and Cronan brought up her frustrations when advisor dismissed her pain.

“I was trying to write an essay for an application, and she told me not to use my pain as an excuse,” Cronan said. “So many people think that you have to look a certain way to have issues, and that’s really frustrating.”

One member said she sometimes has to miss school due to her condition but is still subjected to attendance policies for some of her classes. Although she has a disability form from Disability Support Resources (DSR), she was told the university can’t force professors to follow disability forms. Cronan had a similar experience with DSR.

“They said they can help me if I need accommodations for test taking or if I need a van, but they can’t change an individual professor’s policy on attendance or homework,” Cronan said.

DSR’s mission is to “provide support resources and accommodations that enhance the environment for persons with disabilities and to help educate the university community on disability issues.” 

Cronan ended the meeting with an important message for people who know someone with chronic pain.

“People say it all the time, ‘You never know what someone is going through,’ but especially with this stuff, I wish people were more understanding,” Cronan said.

The Office of Student Life sees to this by hosting events called “Ignite” in the fall semester and “Re-Ignite” in the winter semester for organizations to come together and collaborate while also getting updates on policies and procedures. 

“A lot of the fall is based on very general policies, just getting them off the ground,” said Assistant Director for Student Life Brianna Slager. “This winter, we take a step further where we do this mini-conference and they get a more tailored experience to their organization.”

Re-Ignite is open to executive board members of any organizations, but each organization is required to send at least one representative in order to stay in good standing as an organization. 

Throughout the afternoon, there were four different workshops the students were able to attend: funding, event planning and collaboration, executive board transitions and elections. 

“In the funding one that I led, we did a Kahoot talking about what kind of categories of funding they can get, and in event planning, they planned a fake event and they were able to walk through that process with those people that can help them,” Slager said. 

To simulate a real event planning experience, resources on campus such as the Campus Activities Board, the Promotions Office, graduate assistants, the Dean of Students, the Student Life office and the Vice President of Senate Allocations, were there to help. 

Both the Ignite and Re-Ignite trainings aim to give participants a starting point to make them good officers. 

“They really get that stepping stone to build those connections and collaborations on campus to make their org better and better every year because that’s the goal,” Slager said. 

Slager said after the COVID-19 pandemic, there were only 200 organizations left on campus, leaving Student Life with the task of rebuilding to the 400 groups that are now on campus. 

“There’s been a lot of growth and we’re hopeful that these trainings continue that growth and help keep those orgs staying around and having good legacies going forward,” Slager said. 

For any of the organizations that could not attend Re-Ignite there will be a virtual training session held Feb. 7. 

On Feb. 23 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. there will be an additional event for student organizations to gather together, share food and receive more support for their respective organizations.

Monday, Jan. 23, the Conscious Collective will be holding their first meeting of the year. They’ll be making manifestation boards as well as 2023 dream boards. The meeting will be taking place in Kirkhof Center, room 2264, from 6 to 8 p.m. The group will also be discussing future plans for the winter semester. Those who attend can bring their own craft supplies and magazines to use for images.

The Conscious Collective is an on-campus group that practices spirituality and finding inner peace. Topics that they cover are astrology, helping the environment, yoga, meditation, rocks and crystals as well as other things pertaining to spirituality.

Conversations with the Chair

On Jan. 25 the GVSU Econ Club will be holding a social with professor and economics department Chair Dan Giedeman to meet with other members and talk with the chair.

The group is meeting at the Seidman College of Business on the Pew campus in room 2006 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Attendees will be able to ask the department chair questions and bring their own topics to discuss.

Play Broomball with Campus Ministry

Campus Ministry will be hosting broomball at the Georgetown ice rink this Friday from 8 to 10 p.m. The admission fee is $5 per person.

Broomball is similar to hockey, but is instead played with brooms and balls. Attendees don’t need to wear ice skates to play.

Attend the Presidents’ Ball 

The Presidents’ Ball is back this year at the DeVos Place. The dance’s theme is ‘making up for lost time,’ to make up for the years they couldn’t hold this event due to COVID-19. Both President Philomena Mantella and Student Senate President Faith Kidd are hosting the event. The dance starts at 5:30 p.m. with dinner, and ends at midnight.

Ticket prices vary depending on if students choose to dine or not. Tickets are $20 for the dance only and $45 for dinner and the dance. Tickets are only available online and sales close Friday at 5 p.m. Each student and staff member can purchase up to two tickets. All attendees must bring a valid form of identification to attend.

Campus Life Night occurs twice a school year, once in the fall and then again to kick off the winter semester. The event is held to help students find the club or organization that’s right for them.

For the winter semester the event was held on Jan. 13 in the Fieldhouse arena. Hundreds of tables lined the entirety of the gym with GVSU students squeezing by one another to make their way from one table to the next. Each organization or business had something different to offer. 

Campus Life Night allows students to see some of the smaller, more niche groups on campus that may not be talked about as much like Quad ball, a smaller sports organization.

“This is quad ball, kind of based on the sport quidditch from the Harry Potter books,” said longtime member of the quad ball team Kathy Johnson. “It’s like basketball and dodgeball together. We have all different shapes and sizes in our club and we’re all family.”

Campus Life Night also offers many organizations specific to various majors and identities, one of which is the National Society for Black Engineers. 

“We’re not just black engineers, it’s for STEM majors in general or business majors,” said National Society of Black Engineers member Leah Thomason. “We are like a mentor for each other and help with classes.”

Organizations like this one can help with networking and professionalism as well create connections between colleges in the university. 

“We also love regional conferences,” said Secretary of the National Society of Black Engineers Ariana Corbin. “We just had our last one in Indianapolis back in November, and we did a lot of networking with different companies and just meeting other people.”

Students were able to participate in many different spin-the-wheel games of different organizations, earn prizes and participate in various activities. For example, the US Army was there speaking with students and held a push-up contest, another hands-on activity was offered by the rowing team which gave students the ability to try rowing, without being on the water.

“I was looking forward to getting introduced to all the clubs at Grand Valley so I can get involved and meet people who relate to me here,” said sophomore Taryn Williams. 

Even for students who aren’t sure of the career path they would like to take or need help being successful in the classroom, GVSU resources like the Student Academic Success Center were available to discuss what the university offers at all times of the year. 

“Around midterms, we’ll talk about preparing for midterms, after spring break we talk about motivation because everyone’s just ready to be done with the semester and things like that,” said Student Success Coach Gabe Pena.

Students are welcome to join clubs throughout the year by attending their events or emailing club presidents. Campus Life Night will take place once again at the start of the fall 2023 semester.