UNCW involvement carnival helps students find their community

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — College is about more than what students learn in the classroom. For many, it is also about finding a community, exploring new interests and getting involved.

The University of North Carolina Wilmington hosted its annual Involvement Carnival on Tuesday, bringing student organizations, Greek life, sports clubs and other campus groups together around the university’s Clock Tower.

The event gave students a chance to explore the many ways they can get involved on campus, from joining an established organization to discovering a new hobby or interest.

Lucy Jones, a UNCW graduate student and the founder and president of Coast with IFB, said events like the carnival can play an important role in helping students build connections.

Coast with IFB is a student organization focused on helping students with intellectual and developmental disabilities build social and emotional connections during college.

“It helps create that relatedness. So, we have a club here that’s like the Taylor Swift club so you can really connect with different kinds of people on something that you have a shared interest with and I think that’s really important, especially coming from high school where you have your close-knit group of friends and you share those interests, you come here you might not have that, so that helps facilitate that environment to allow that to happen,” said Jones.

UNCW has more than 250 student organizations, and students are encouraged to create new groups based on their own interests.

The university’s Campus Activities and Involvement Center serves as a hub for student organizations, providing resources, event-planning support and opportunities for groups to collaborate.