Audra Kriauciunas said she wanted to meet other students interested in the outdoors but didn’t know how and couldn’t find a club to help her — so she started a club to help others.
Kriauciunas founded Wilderness Explorers at IU. After starting as an informal group last academic year, Wilderness Explorers has transformed into an official organization this academic year.
The Student Involvement Fair brings a mix of old and new student organizations like Wilderness Explorers to Dunn Meadow every fall semester. The fair is an opportunity for students and clubs to interact at the beginning of the school year.
“You get to talk to students directly, and it’s really your opportunity to make those face-to-face connections and, hopefully, if they have that face-to-face connection, then they’re going to be more likely to check out your club,” Kriauciunas said. “So I’m really excited we got a spot.”
Kriauciunas was talking to her uncle about her desire to meet other students interested in the outdoors or to find a club to help her when he suggested she start her own club.
“I just started looking more into the process, and the more I started (looking into) it, the more I was like, ‘We’re going to do it,’” she said.
Kriauciunas said the organization has three key aims: to get students interested in the outdoors, to help students meet other students interested in the outdoors and to explore educational and career opportunities in the outdoors.
Kriauciunas said she hoped to plan biweekly hiking and monthly excursions.
“I’m really hoping to attract students that are motivated and just bring a positive energy with them, that are open to new experiences and are open to the outdoors,” she said. “It could be the start of a lifelong passion that they just discovered.”
Kriauciunas said reaching students through the Student Involvement Fair is easier than reaching students through other methods.
“This is the only time in the first couple of weeks of school that we have an all-play, where we put this out to all registered student organizations, we put this out to all campus departments, we put this out to local community agencies,” said Valerie Nettleton, student organizations coordinator under the Division of Student Affairs. “And it really represents everyone on a level playing field. And so, whether you’re an organization that has 20 members or you’re an organization that has six members, you have the same presence here at the fair.”
Nettleton said the fair is the first opportunity for students to talk with different people and learn about different options for involvement in one location.
“Getting involved on campus is important for so many different reasons,” she said. “Number one, it really enhances what you’re learning in the classroom. You will learn skills outside of the classroom that complement what you’re doing inside the classroom. You also learn lessons outside of the classroom that you never learn inside the classroom.”
Nettleton said getting involved on campus allows students to build connections with other students with similar interests.
“There are so many different reasons, and there are so many different interests,” she said. “And we’re trying to help cater and help people find their way through all of that.”
