New semester welcomes recognized clubs to Lehigh’s campus

New clubs add to the already more than 200 student clubs and organizations at Lehigh.

The Korean Student Association 

The Korean Student Association is an organization that promotes culture for students from different Korean backgrounds. The group hosts culture nights, which includes watching Korean dramas, watching K-pop YouTube videos, learning Korean language skills and eating Korean barbecue. The club also plans to tutor international Korean students at Lehigh to help with the transition of attending college in the U.S. 

The club, which currently has around 25 members, was revamped by President Joshua Yang, ‘22, after the group had disbanded two years ago due to inactivity. Yang wanted to bring a piece of the Korean college experience to Lehigh, since people who are second-generation Korean immigrants, for example, don’t necessarily get the opportunity, he said. 

“I struggled to find my identity because I was neither the first-generation immigrant or second-generation immigrant,” Yang said. “So I had trouble fitting into the American culture and the Korean culture, so I’m hoping for the Korean students who join KSA to find their identity.”

The Korean Student Association is open to anyone interested in joining and is also planning to work with other cultural clubs in the future. 

Jordan Feigin, ’19, works alongside his club members to design game elements. The Game Design Club’s range of skills varies from coding to music production. (Courtesy of the Game Design Club)

The Game Design Club 

The Game Design Club, as the name suggests, is a new organization of students who work together to make games or design parts of games. It is a place for students to collaborate and experiment with whatever their game creation skills may be, whether it is designing, coding or producing music. Members are taught how to use various game-creating software engines.

Club President Oner Ates, ‘20, said members of the club have fun bouncing game ideas off of each other in the meetings. 

“Everybody is different, and everybody has different ideas,” Ates said. “Every time you ask, ‘What does everybody have?’ somebody just comes up with this really weird, stupid-sounding idea that might actually just turn out to be the best thing that can ever happen. Moments like that are the best part about the club.” 

Members meet twice a week, sometimes in person and sometimes online to share their work and learn from each other. They hope to showcase their work at the end of the semester. 

Josh Rutzick, ’21, left, and Ethan Moscot, ‘22, are members of The Lehigh Patriot, a student-run political newspaper. The paper gives students the opportunity to talk about topics related to Lehigh or larger political issues. (Courtesy of The Lehigh Patriot)

The Lehigh Patriot 

The Lehigh Patriot is an independent, student-run political newspaper. 

Ethan Moscot, ’22, editor in chief of the paper, said the publication isn’t necessarily aligned with any specific political party.

“We don’t even see ourselves as direct competitors to The Brown and White,” he said. “We are more so trying to carve our own path in the sense that we are giving students a platform to talk about what they want, whether it is campus-related issues, or any larger political stories.” 

The Lehigh Patriot had existed on Lehigh’s campus in past years, but had not been active since 2012. This earlier version of The Lehigh Patriot had a more strictly political focus, but the revival aims to broaden the scope with a hard goal of promoting free speech. It is intended to help elevate the voices of people that feel they don’t already have an outlet. The publication is completely student-run by, as Moscot describes, a “small but mighty team” that keeps all writing simple and anti-bureaucratic. They hope to come out with content soon and produce on a monthly schedule. 

The JM Entertainment club is a K-pop cover group that creates its own mixes with existing choreography. The club consists of 30 members and is continuing to grow. (Candice Zhuang/B&W Staff)

JM Entertainment 

JM Entertainment is a K-pop cover dance group. Each semester the group picks a couple of songs to cover, creates its own mixes and tries to recreate existing choreography. The club consists of 30 members who practice every Sunday.

The club members take pride in their work in order to perform well, and they also try to make rehearsals as fun as possible by keeping things relaxed up until performance time. 

“It’s very satisfactory because as much work as you put in, you see the reaction from that,” said President Nazrin Hasanova, ’21. “So, for a lot of people, it’s very gratifying.” 

The group welcomes people of all dance backgrounds, even those who do not have experience. 

“I feel like performing on stage makes you a different person,” said Hasanova, who performs with JM Entertainment. “Performing in front of a thousand people every semester adds a lot of confidence to how you communicate with other people and how you carry yourself. It is a life-changing experience.” 

Francesca Garofalo, ‘22, joined during the second semester of her freshman year. She now coordinates the club’s social media. She said she treasures the experience the club has provided for her and considers joining it one of the best decisions she’s made at Lehigh. 

The Thai Student Association

The Thai Student Association is a club dedicated to promoting Thai culture on campus. The group is comprised of about 30 members who work to build community while planning events,such as Thai culture night.

“We help people know more about our culture because we feel that people don’t really know too much,” Vice President Pawat Rithipreedanant, ‘20, said.

He said he has enjoyed working with and getting to know the other people in the club, many of whom he doesn’t typically see around campus. 

While its meetings usually have free food, the Thai Student Association hopes members can also immerse themselves in the Thai language while having a good time.