This past Friday one of Michigan Tech’s many traditions occurred. Besides the wonderful part where all afternoon classes are canceled, K-Day was a four-hour event held at McLain State Park. The main goal behind K-Day is involvement. Michigan Tech has roughly 200 student organizations and almost every one of them made an appearance Friday. It is impossible to not find an organization that you are interested in. There are things ranging from sports to community outreach and even building model trains. If you missed out on any of the clubs at K-Day, you can simply go to www.involvement.mtu.edu to find something that suits your style. There is also an App, “Corq,” that gives you an overview at what is going on around campus every day. All you have to do is sign into Michigan Tech once you’ve downloaded it and you’ll immediately be in the scoop.
If you missed out on K-Day this year, be sure to attend next year. The event started promptly at noon. If you had a car you were more than welcome to drive yourself and a couple of friends to McLain State Park; otherwise, there were three shuttles running from the Memorial Union Building as well. It is about a 25 minute drive to the park, so the shuttles returned around every hour. Honestly, the wait wasn’t too bad, as long as you had sunscreen. Unfortunately, the sun was very bright and no clouds were present to save us and many people got burnt. Once a shuttle arrived people would literally pile into the bus. It was three to a seat on a regular yellow school bus, but if you weren’t squished sitting down next to someone, you could have stood in the middle aisle clutching the backs of seats for balance as the shuttle took off. Eventually the bus would pull into the park and everyone would stumble out onto the grass and dirt. Just a few yards away from the bus stop, you could see the very top of some tents and the sail of a sailboat. The sailboat was part of Michigan Tech’s sailing club; they actually went through the trouble of hauling a sailboat all the way to the park. But as you walk closer, the rows of tables become more defined and you can begin to weave your way through the masses of people.
It’s hard finding something that you don’t like as you walk past the booths. Even if you weren’t sure about what you wanted to do, there are a wide variety of new things to try. Bridget Troost, a first year student, commented that she joined the soccer club on K-Day because she “loved the sport in high school and wanted to continue to play while studying here at Tech.” She also joined the Women’s committee of American Society of Mechanical Engineers as she thought it would be a good way to know more people having the same major as she did.
While some people played it safe, others went to join something completely new. Marvin Detert, an exchange student from Germany here for the semester, joined the Swing Dancing club. Even if you weren’t fully interested in joining anything, you still had the beauty of McLain State Park to enjoy. Renato Pinto Reveggino, a first year student, said, “My favorite part was the view. The beach was especially amazing with the soft sand and the really cool looking rocks.”
Everyone took something different out of K-Day. Nolan Denoyer, a first year student, said that “K-Day brings everyone together. It’s a great way to connect with others, whether you already knew them or they were complete strangers.”
Third year Sabrina Pflanzer said, “It’s all about opportunity. It’s geared towards the first year students so they can get involved.” The overall meaning of K-Day goes deeper than just signing up to join an organization. Michigan Tech is a painting. Every club and organization has its own color. Join something and add your own brush stroke to the picture.
