New clubs join campus

By Jessica Wilder and Jennifer Shen     9/7/11 7:00pm

Nocturnal: new a cappella group

Nocturnal joins the ranks of the Phils and the Low Keys as an undergraduate a cappella group. However, Nocturnal will focus on being service-oriented while singing, President and Founder Mika Tabata said.

The idea of a service-oriented, co-ed a cappella group first came to Tabata at the beginning of last year during an Urban Immersion visit to Lighthouse for the Blind of Houston, she said.

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"It all started with a few Martel [College] people who wanted to sing," Martel sophomore Tabata said. "I was surprised by how few a cappella groups there were on campus."

The small group began holding performances in the Hermann Memorial Intensive Care Unit waiting room in the fall of 2010. Maintaining a consistent membership was difficult at first, but the club grew as the year progressed, Tabata said.

"I was amazed by the amount of talent we saw," Tabata said. "I was expecting Nocturnal to be a group of 16, but now we have 25."

With this influx of singers and beatboxers, there will be an increase in collaboration, Music Director and Vice President Steven Cooper said.

The current line-up includes contemporary pop songs, a cappella classics, and perhaps some Kanye West songs.

Members of Rice's other a cappella groups are also excited to see Nocturnal off to a successful start.

"I'm always happy to see other musical groups popping up on campus," Lovett College sophomore and Phils member Steven Para said. "I'll definitely be at the concerts."

 

Rice Academ Society

The Rice Academ Society will join the campus community by creating a stronger presence for academs.

The co-founders of RAS, Will Rice College sophomore Veronica Saron and Will Rice junior Christina Katsampes, said that they created the club to foster and support a sense of camaraderie among "academs" that they believe was previously lacking.

"There are already a lot of good programs for academs, and we just want to advocate, exploit and advertise them more," Katsampes said.

According to Katsampes, RAS will work closely with the Center for Career Development. It plans to bring in speakers and offer workshops for building resumes, establishing interview skills and writing cover letters. The first planned event is a panel with alumni, professors and seniors to talk about their student careers as academs.

RAS hopes to host a career fair specifically geared toward humanities and social science majors, since the current Career Expo serves more towards scientists and engineers.

Saron said that she had felt a strong stigma against academs when she decided to switch from engineering to a social science major.

"I know that a lot of humanities students are capable of doing engineering," Saron said. "I want to encourage people [talented in humanities and social sciences] to pursue their passion rather than joining the bandwagon of engineers and premeds through this club."

Any person interested in joining RAS can contact its officers at RiceAcadem@gmail.com. 

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