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Mo State student clubs help foster a tighter campus, city

The Student Org Festival is held annually during Welcome Weekend.
Jesse Scheve//Missouri State University
/
Photos.MissouriState.edu
The Student Org Festival is held annually during Welcome Weekend.

There are over 300 student organizations on the Missouri State University campus.

Our weekly program, Missouri State Journal, is a collaboration between KSMU Radio and Missouri State University. It's hosted and produced by Missouri State's Office of Strategic Communication, and it airs each Tuesday morning at 9:45 on KSMU.

Student-led clubs and organizations are the tapestry that make up Missouri State University. With more than 300 options, they are as diverse as the students who comprise them, bringing together friends new and old with a shared interest.

They range from heritage groups to academic clubs and the fan favorite Cheese Club. And the organizations not only support campus life, but they help the broader Springfield area through thousands of hours of community service each year.

Briar Douglas, coordinator of student engagement and co-curricular involvement on campus, said Mo State’s robust student club system no doubt has a positive effect on campus life, but that also radiates out into Springfield.

“Take our Student Nursing Organization, for example, one of our largest organizations on campus, that has a direct tie to our hospitals and our clinics,” he said. “Several of our organizations also adopt streets in town…and our fraternity and sorority life chapters are tied to national philanthropy missions.

Douglas said student orgs are fun, but they are much more.

“If you are involved, you are 75% or more likely to graduate on time with good grades (and) get a job outside of college,” he said.

Students who would like to get involved may visit BearLink online.

Read the full transcript.

Emily Letterman has worked at Missouri State University since 2023 and is currently the public relations strategist in the Office of Strategic Communication. A longtime journalist with over a decade of reporting on southwest Missouri, she has a bachelor’s degree in English literature from MSU.