New Student Organizations to Look Out For

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This year, Rutgers–Camden has seen a rise in new campus organizations that emphasize community and inclusivity on campus from student dance clubs to major-oriented organizations.

The students leaders within these clubs want RUC students to find a home within their club, like Mia Morris who is the president of Scarlet Scribes, RUC’s English club, “My first semester here I got imposter syndrome, I felt isolated, I felt alone, and this semester when I took the student leader position I knew I wanted to be more involved in the community… because finding your community and being involved on campus is how you make the college experience.”

Student leaders like Mia Morris see campus activities as an essential part of college life and an opportunity for students to grow. This is why there’s been a significant uptick in new student organizations over the past year. The Scarlet Scribes was established in December 2024 by now Rutgers Camden alum, Sophia Westfall, and is part of a large group of clubs established within the year. Bhangra Fusion, Women in STEM, and Raptor Royales are all newly formed clubs looking for more student involvement on campus.

Raptor Royales, RUC’s stomp and shake cheerleading team, is another newly formed organization that popped up in the Fall of 2024. Over the past year, they’ve already collaborated with MujeRes and the RUC Black Student Union and done countless performances at events like Legacy Weekend, Raptor Rally, and different RUC games.

Women in STEM was formed in September of 2024 with the mission of cultivating “a supportive environment that empowers and encourages women pursuing careers in STEM disciplines. We aim to foster a diverse and inclusive community that embraces and celebrates the contributions of women, while striving to promote gender equality within these traditionally male-dominated fields,” according to their RUC Engage page. Since then, they’ve held networking events, game nights, galas, and co-hosted the STEM Olympiad Annual Event and the NAACP Health Fair.

Prabhleen Kaur, co-president of Bhangra Fusion, explained the origins and inspiration for founding her own club:

“I love dancing so my first year I joined the Sikh Student Association, SAATH, and the performances and then I was like, why not start a [dance] team here? But since it’s a commuter campus we don’t really have official dance teams and I don’t think many people are interested so I started with a club and then we named it Bhangra Fusion because there’s so much diversity on this campus that I didn’t wanna limit it to just bhangra. It’s for our love of dance and our tradition.”

The club’s focus is on bhangra dance, and it holds workshops, socials, and performances. It also co-hosts large events like Holi – Rang De Bash 2025. They also performed at Marsala Madness 2024, which they are co-hosting with SAATH this year. Like many other organizations, Bhangra Fusion emphasizes collaboration, having previously worked with RUC Cheerleading, The Bridge, SAATH, and RUC Cricket Club.

Kaur added, “Everyone is open to come, it’s not like you need to know how to dance or anything. It’s just for fun to represent the culture and anyone’s love for dancing.”

Other new student organizations hold a similar sentiment, like The Scarlet Scribes. While talking to Mia Morris, she emphasized that the club is open to all majors, not just English students. The Scarlet Scribes holds events such as open mics, poetry nights, and plays, with an upcoming Halloween open mic night co-hosted by The Gleaner on October 30th, 2025, in the Writer’s House.

Prabhleen Kaur also discussed the importance of being involved on campus, stating, “I think I made one of the best decisions by being a part of the E-Board and being involved on campus… I made friends here, I got involved, I got to explore different cultures, different traditions, and learn a lot from the events on their own. People are afraid to be a part of the E-Board but I would suggest to people that they should be a part of clubs, you learn a lot and gain good friends and connections.”

Faith Mitchell, president of the Campus Activities Board (CAB) shared how to get involved on campus, “I would do kind of just a list in your head of what are you interested in? What are some hobbies? It could literally be something that you haven’t participated in since you were in first grade, but maybe it’s still something that you like doing, you just never got a chance to. And then how do you start getting into that stuff? You have to honestly keep your eyes and ears open… you can see a flyer when you walk by or you can hear an opportunity in class or even like your friends or something.”

CAB is a base for events held on campus, creating non-academic events for students looking for activities outside their classes and academic endeavors. This October, they ran events such as a trip to Eastern State Penitentiary and “Framed in Fall,” which had food and a photo booth for students to use.

These new student organizations have helped build a greater campus community with a home for every student at Rutgers–Camden.