DiscoveRio is a joint effort between the Rio Hondo College (RHC) departments of Student Life and Leadership and Student Affairs that combines “Club Rush” and “Student Services Fair”.
It is a two-day event that showcases the on campus clubs that students can become involved in and the various on campus resources that RHC supplies to enhance the success of its students. Students can enjoy two days of contests, games, giveaways, food and more. DiscoveRio happens each Fall and Spring Semester.
Clubs also used this event as a fundraiser, each club selling a different kind of food or beverage.
These two events used to be organized separately and held at different times. “It just made sense to combine them,” explains Sandra Salcedo, Student Affairs, “Club Rush is exciting and brings out the students. We can be out there at the same time providing vital information about our resources.”
DiscoveRio allows students the opportunity to see all of the clubs together in one place at the same time. This event can be a major time-saver for a student carrying a full load of classes who still wants to get involved in a campus club. A student looking for a club to join would normally have to go to each club’s separate meeting.
This is also a great way for the clubs to attract the potential members that they need.
According to RHC sophomore Joanna Ruiz, Inter-Club Council (ICC) Chair, “Every semester, each club has to apply and qualify for its charter.”
“One of the requirements for qualifying for a charter is a minimum of ten members with a GPA of at least 2.0 that are currently enrolled in at least five units,” added RHC sophomore Mark Farfan, ICC Vice Chair.
There are 30 clubs applying for a charter at RHC for the Spring 2015 semester. “The most clubs we have had that qualified for their charters at one time was 25,” recalls Ruiz, “but that’s just in the past two years.”
Anyone can create a club, as long as they can create an acceptable constitution and set of by-laws. They would also need a Faculty Advisor. Faculty Advisors must be full time faculty at RHC, aside from any other requirements.
“A Faculty Advisor normally has some sort of a relation to the club they advise,” explains Farhan, “but some clubs are pretty broad. We used to have a Barbecue Club.”
Other campus groups were also able to leverage the exciting atmosphere that DiscoveRio generates. Senior Preview Days were hosted by RHC and scheduled to coincide with DiscoveRio. Over one thousand local high school seniors came on campus each of the two days to get a chance to experience Rio Hondo and preview college life.
“All of the students out for DiscoveRio made the trip more exciting for our high school seniors,” said Vanessa Almena (Chavez), Interim Project Manager of Student Success and Support Programs.
Rio Hondo College hosts DiscoveRio twice each year, once in each of the Fall and Spring semesters. On campus clubs applying for, or renewing, charters for that semester are on hand to answer questions from prospective members and to raise funds through the sale of food and beverage items. Student Affairs also has a variety of booths providing information regarding services such as Financial Aid, Counseling, Health Services, Extended Opportunities Programs and Services (EOP&S), etc.