Bowdoin College - Student Organizations

Student Organizations

• African American Society – Provides political, educational, and social support for people of African decent at Bowdoin.
• Amnesty International – The mission of the Bowdoin chapter of Amnesty International is to raise consciousness and promote debate of human rights issues on campus and work to promote the human rights of people around the world.
• Animation Society – Shows the animation of various cultures to those who are interested in hopes of further diversifying the campus in addition to providing students and faculty with an extra realm of entertainment.
• Anokha – An organization whose main focus is the practice and celebration of South Asian cultures
• Arabesque – Ballet club that provides advanced dancers with the opportunity to continue practicing the art of ballet. Also, the club gives its members a chance to choreograph and perform their own works
• Architects and Designers – Supports and informs Bowdoin students interested in careers in architecture or design. Art Club – Responsible for student exhibits and sponsoring artist lectures.
• Art Club – Responsible for student exhibits and sponsoring artist lectures.
• Atheists – The Bowdoin College Atheists (BCA) provides a sense of community to those students on campus who lack theistic beliefs. BCA sponsors activities such as movies, dinners, and discussions.
• Bear Blades – Student skating club for the campus community.
• BGSA (Bowdoin Gay/Straight Alliance) – BGSA is an activist group that wants to inform the Bowdoin community about gay and lesbian issues and to create a supportive environment for gay and straight students to discuss and meet weekly.
• BOCA (Bowdoin Omnigatherum Coed A cappella) – Coed a cappella group of 12 to 16 (omnigatherum means diverse, all encompassing).
• Campus Activities Board (A-Board) – Promotes and plans activities, educational and/or entertaining, in a way that best serves the interests of the student body.
• Catholic Students Union – Group that fulfills the needs of the Catholic population on campus. CSU sponsors weekly dinner meetings, retreats, and other campus-wide activities.
• Chess Club – Meets on a weekly basis with a group of other interested players. The club may also sponsor competitions and tournaments, or send players to local matches.
• Christian Fellowship (BCF) – Seeks to create a close-knit community of Christians and those interested in learning more about Christianity through music, bible study, prayer, fellowship, and events like Up Til Dawn, a community-service project.
• Circolo Italiano – Brings students and other members of the campus together to celebrate the language, art, and culture of Italy.
• Community Service Council – Student organization whose function is to help organize and assist the collaboration between student volunteers and community agencies.
• Craft Center – Composed of students involved in activities with the whole campus and smaller projects that involve just the group. This may include informal discussion with professors, artists, and each other.
• Culinary Club – Provides a way to teach students how to cook different foods from around the globe and have fun. BCC is inclusive and open to all members of the Bowdoin community.
• Debate Team – Participates in intercollegiate debate tournaments year round hosted by schools such as Harvard, Dartmouth, and Stanford. In addition, the team plays an annual BBC President’s Cup tournament and participates in regional tournaments.
• Democrats – Providing a medium through which students can discuss, convey, and exercise their political ideologies, this group is dedicated to making the college more aware of issues that may affect it.
• Film Society – Brings a variety of films to campus on Fridays and Saturdays; free and open to the public.
• Forward! – An organization for students and others with disabilities on the Bowdoin campus. They try to address the needs and concerns of those with disabilities and to plan events and activities that will heighten awareness.
• Global Help – A student organization dedicated to human rights issues. They focus on international human rights and economic justice through campus and community education, activism, advocacy, and fundraising.
• Hawaii Ohana – Provides educational and social support for students from the Hawaiian Islands and those interested in Hawaiian culture.
• Hillel – Provides a resource for Jewish students to gather together and share a common bond. They sponsor both Jewish and secular activities, present lectures, show movies, and more in order to provide a sense of community and Jewish life.
• Improvabilities – An improvisational comedy group that performs throughout the year for the campus community.
• International Club – Plans events and programs that support the international student community as well as serve to educate the broader Bowdoin community.
• KASA – Korean American Students Association’s primary purpose is to promote a better understanding and awareness of the Korean heritage, culture, language, its people, and their concerns in the Bowdoin community.
• KISS – Teaches the Bowdoin community about HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
• Latin American Student Organization (LASO) – Works to insure the diffusion of Latino culture and issues that face those of Latin American background in the United States
• Literary Society – Encourages the furtherance of intellectual activity on campus as it pertains to the written and spoken word, and brings together members of the Bowdoin community in the common love of literature.
• Masque and Gown – Provides opportunities in theater, such as producing plays, and sponsors the annual student-written one-act play contest.
• Meddiebempsters (Meddies) – An all-male a cappella group with a 60-plus year tradition of performing on campus and traveling to sing with other groups.
• Miscellania – An all-female a cappella group.
• Neuroscience Journal Club – Offers students the opportunity to discuss current topics in the field of neuroscience in an organized setting outside of the classroom.
• No Cats, No Steeples – A forum for student photographers to have their work published in a magazine format.
• Obvious – An exclusively hip-hop and breakdancing club that introduced a more competitive level of dance to the Bowdoin community.
• Optical Society of America
• Outing Club – Promotes outdoor activities, an appreciation of nature, and the development of such traits as initiative, integrity, self-reliance, and leadership.
• Peer Counseling and Advising – Formerly the Depression Resource Organization; it deals with all aspects that affect the student population. They hope to educate the community (on campus and off) about different mental illnesses and concerns.
• Peucinian Society – An organization to bring the classics community at Bowdoin together and to gain the interest of others in the classics.
• Poeting – An organization created to provide a community of inspiration and enlightenment for student poets.
• Polar Consulting Group – An on-campus management consulting “firm” that works with student organizations to solve their strategic management problems.
• Society for Hispanic Professional Engineers
• Society of Women Engineers
• Taiko – Teaches Japanese drumming to all those who want to learn. This club is instruction-oriented, but Taiko club will also give periodic performances in which the students are encouraged to participate.
• The Bugle – Serves as BowdoinCollege’s yearbook.
• The Orient – The College’s weekly newspaper, the oldest continually published college weekly paper in the nation.
• Unity Step Team – Practices new steps, puts them together, and performs them.
• VAGUE – Bowdoin’s student dance group. Throughout the year, they perform pieces that the students choreograph themselves. VAGUE meets about once a week and is open to all students.
• V-Day (BWA) – Works to promote awareness of efforts to prevent violence against women and children through educational programs including concerts, lectures, and performances such as The Vagina Monologues.
• W.A.R.R.I.O.R.S. – Bowdoin’s student-run eating disorders awareness group, whose main goal is to increase the general knowledge of and sensitivity toward body image problems and eating disorders.
• WBOR 91.1 FM – Attempts to provide a broadcasting forum for education and interaction.
• Women’s Association – Promotes awareness and education about gender issues through speeches and performing artists.