Getting involved in college can be a daunting or easy task to some, but to Junior Vilnis Chakars it was a gradual and rewarding process. The Loyola University Maryland student is a member of The Muse, the theology and art clubs, an officer for the history club, and a leader of Anime Hounds, Loyola’s anime club. The Anime Hounds was his jumping off point for his extracurricular exploration:
“The first year I was like, very very kind of isolated from most people I feel like and… I didn’t want to do a lot. And Anime club is a good social space because you can talk, or you can just sit. We have members who will come frequently and they—you know—are perfectly comfortable with just—watching stuff and don’t want to jump into the conversation. That is a-okay, very fun, I used to do that. And so that was kind of what I wanted out of the club—was just a thing to do. And then as I got closer with more people and found out about more things on campus, I feel like that introduced me to all these other clubs.”
It was these connections that led to him joining history club his sophomore year, The Muse his junior year, and the theology club this semester, all while slowly getting more involved with the art club since joining it his freshman year. Why the slow and steady method? As he explains:
“I’ve been trying to… progressively join, like…a club with each—I was going to do it by semester but then it kind of became kind of by year, and then some fluctuation between that.”
He says that they have been a great way to engage his interests and express himself, even if most of his interests don’t overlap with his major of elementary education. As for the future, his plans are to just keep getting involved at Loyola, and the advice he gives to those hesitant is the same advice he follows himself:
“I would say pick one club to start with, kind of like I did. Just find—you know—try out a few. Find one as your gateway to settle into the school because a club comes with a community, you know? So… find one that sticks with you—[one] you know that you want to put time and effort into. And as you do that and you get used to that, you’ll probably want to do more.”
