Tufts Blogs

After two years of playing a Varsity Sport (Crew!), which was a strong community and a lengthy time commitment, I was ready to move on. I now found myself searching for other activities to fill my newly discovered free time. I was excited to get back in the action because everyone it seemed at Tufts is involved in some activity whether that be acapella, debate, volunteering, or Quidditch.

My sophomore year I joined three different groups (Tufts 180 Consulting, Tufts Dance Collective, Tufts Trading Fund) which I learned about from friends (they can be your greatest resource) and Facebook pages advertising the clubs. They are all open to everyone and anyone. Each semester, there are countless GIMs (General Information Meetings) which let you get an idea of what the club or activity is and its commitment level. The biggest barrier to joining a club here is yourself! Some do require interviews and applications and some just require that you show up. Joining activities/clubs here has been incredible and it easily filled the void that crew had left. I’ll take some time to explain these activities and how they have built community for me at Tufts.

180 Consulting: 180 is a non-profit consulting group that works with non-profits in the Somerville, Medford, and the Cambridge area. For this activity, I did have to write an application and do an interview. The club is formatted much like a consulting firm. You work in teams with team leaders and directors. Each team is assigned a non-profit which all have very different challenges and objectives. Part of our job is figuring out what is the goal and how can we best achieve that. Last semester I worked with the Somerville public high schools to build an anti-juuling marketing campaign. We conducted surveys and focus groups and compiled research on comparable campaigns and all the health info. We went to the school to see the problem first hand and we also met with school administration to figure out what their concerns were. The project culminated in a presentation that we did in front of two school officials giving them our recommendations and also some marketing materials that we built. It was some great exposure to business and non-profits.

Tufts Dance Collective: TDC is a dance group with about 300- 400 participants for people that don’t know how to dance. There are performances once each semester and it’s the perfect way to make a fool of yourself in front of all your friends and even President Tony Monaco. The group is split into small dances of about 20 -25 run by 2 Choreographers who each have their own themes and practices once a week to go over the dance. The show takes place in the biggest auditorium with over 600 people and the tickets sell out in 60 seconds. Everyone loves TDC (except when you see your friends' videos of your dancing) and it’s a special and unique Tufts tradition.

Tufts Trading Fund: TTF is a student run trading fund that helps students learn about macro investing in a range of sectors including forex, commodities, indices and more. I joined as a member of a sector and quickly learned how to research and pitch different financial product. This has also been a great way for me to meet alumni in this industry and learn from industry professionals.

These three clubs have a wide range of commitment and provide different centers of community for me here at Tufts. Some have bondings, formals, weekly meetings, presentations, pitches, shows, and it’s all a part of what I do here. For myself and many others clubs/activities are a part of their identity at Tufts and we are always looking for new members.