By SCOTT COAHRAN
Professor and Club Advisor
Merced College Los Banos Campus
With the fall term coming up soon, I would like to welcome back all of our returning students, and, in a special way, those students who recently graduated from high school or are otherwise new to our campus.
Extracurricular activities have always been an important part of the college experience, and this is true at the Merced College Los Banos Campus as well.
One organization you might consider joining is the Social Science Club. As the name implies, the club is somewhat oriented to Social Science majors, but everyone is welcomed, and we have had members and officers from STEM fields, the humanities and business.
Some of our traditional activities include excursions to such places as the Buddhist Hindu Monasteries, the Renaissance Fair, the All-Native American Pow Wow and the Sikh Temple.
We’ve also held ethnic food nights, including Ethiopian, Korean, Indian, Greek, Persian, Mexican, Vietnamese, German, Laotian and Filipino cuisine. We’ve also had movie nights.
And we have assisted the campus with such events as Blue Devil Preview Day and the Los Banos Campus 50th Anniversary Celebration. We have also served the community by assisting the local Rotary club with Empty Bowls and the Crab Feed.
We also have an annual Food-Clothing-Toy Drive and have occasionally participated in walk-a-thons for charities. Also, each year we give away two $300 scholarships—one to a graduate and one to a returning Los Banos student.
Some of the activities we are considering for the coming year include visits to a planetarium and an escape room. Our activities are really limited only by the talents, interests and availability of the members.
Many of our members and officers graduated last May, so we are eager to have new people join us.
I’m Professor Scott Coahran, and I teach psychology and sociology at the Los Banos Campus. If the Social Sciences Club sounds like an activity in which you might be interested, or if you have any questions, I invite you to email me at scott.coahran@mccd.edu.
