If you’re not in a sorority or a social butterfly who makes friends with every person who walks by, chances are it can be pretty hard sometimes to make new friends and meet new people on campus. As a woman especially, it can sometimes be even harder to find a niche which is supportive and empowering to your unique and individual place here on campus. However, with over 300 clubs here at Cal Poly there are luckily more than a few clubs which cater not only to bringing support and friendship to women here at Cal Poly, but to bringing career and educational opportunities as well.
Women in Business Association
The Women in Business Association is a club here on campus exclusively for women. The club aims to empower and provide women with leadership skills to succeed in school, as well as in their careers. We sat down with one of Women in Business Association’s very own leading ladies and got the 411 on exactly what the club is about.
Her Campus: What does your club do?
Hannah Poplack: Women in Business functions as a resource for students on campus, so essentially as opposed to being focused on one major or one concentration or one social good organization, we host a lot of varied programs to support all female students, and male students, through their experience at Cal Poly. So, that ranges from monthly meetings where we’ll bring in company speakers to company tours in San Francisco to even workshops aimed at the unique challenges that women face in the professional workforce. We do unique mentoring and mentee opportunities specific to women.
Her Campus: How do you feel your club benefits women?
Poplack: I think the Women in Business Association benefits women at this college because it brings a new perspective to learn by doing. What I really like about Women in Business is it functions as a support to students as opposed to just say a financial management organization or a civil engineering club, we really focus on personal and professional development.
Her Campus: Is there any advice you’d like to give to women here at Cal Poly?
Poplack: I think the biggest piece of advice that I’d give to all of our students is to take every opportunity that comes your way and really fight to get those opportunities. I think that Cal Poly is a really extraordinary place and it’s far more extraordinary for all of the people who take advantage of all of the opportunities that are here. One thing I also see consistently is the discrepancy between opportunities that are available and the women that take advantage of them. But, I am really encouraged by what’s happening recently on this campus, so for instance, Cal Poly’s MBA program, which by the way MBA programs are notoriously male dominated, Cal Poly’s MBA program this year is 70 percent women. So, the tables are really turning.
Her Campus: How can women join?
Poplack: Women in Business is an open platform for all students, the best way to stay connected with our events is through our Facebook page or you can sign up for our email list. We also host an event once a week, and what I really love about those events is they’re super varied. We also have a membership program where you get a really snazzy white polo and you get access to some unique opportunities.
Her Campus: When and where are your club meetings?
Poplack: We meet as an entire group once a month which is on the first Tuesday of the month and those happen in the business building, room 111. Again, we also host an event every single week and the best way to see where those are is on our Facebook page. What I love about those is that they’re not always lunchtime meetings with pizza, we have breakfasts or even dinners with companies, so it’s really varied.
While it may seem nearly impossible at times to take the time out of our busy days to even think about trying to be social, getting in a few hours of ‘girl power’ every week can really help to boost your confidence and sense of support. Finding women who have similar interests, concerns and passions as you can be a beautiful thing. So, make sure to get out there, join a club and embrace your womanhood!
Link to the Cal Poly Women in Business Website
Link to the Cal Poly Women in Business Facebook
Here’s a list of other clubs for women here at Cal Poly that weren’t featured!
Alpha Epsilon Phi
Alpha Gamma Delta
Alpha Kappa Delta Phi
Alpha Omega Epsilon
Alpha Phi
American Medical Woman’s Association, Cal Poly
Association for Women in Mathematics, Cal Poly Student Chapter
Chi Delta Theta
Chi Omega Fraternity
Futbol Club
Gamma Phi Beta
Her Campus
Kappa Kappa Gamma
Women’s Lacrosse
Lambda Sigma Gamma
Lambda Theta Nu
Panhellenic
Sigma Alpha
Sigma Kappa
Sigma Omega Nu
Society of Women Engineers
Women’s and Gender Studied Honor Society (Triota)
Women SPEAK at Cal Poly
Women’s Ultimate Frisbee
Women’s Volleyball Club
Women’s Water Polo
Women in Physics, Cal Poly
Women Involved in Software and Hardware
Women’s Basketball Club