Club Spotlight: Fordham Experimental Theatre Umbrella Groups

Fordham Experimental Theatre, or FET, is one of our three theater groups on the Rose Hill campus. This group puts on two student directed plays or musicals a semester, as well as a Playwrights’ Festival which includes 3-4 short student written one act shows. As if that weren’t enough, FET also consists of four umbrella groups: Fordham Standup, Free Pizza Sketch Comedy, Stranded In Pittsburgh (Improv Comedy), and Verbal Essences (Spoken Word). Each group performs a few times each semester, meaning there’s never a dull weekend in the Blackbox Theatre, which FET calls home.

Stranded in Pittsburgh, Fordham's Improv Comedy Troupe
In the background is the back wall of the Blackbox, featuring signatures of members after they have graduated.

Cartoons of each comedian in Fordham Standup, drawn by member James Murtagh

Each group meets weekly to prepare their shows and critique one another’s work. They also are not limited to just performing at Fordham, but they often take advantage of our location and perform around New York City. Stranded in Pittsburgh has competed at the College Improv Tournament in Manhattan (and were awarded 2nd place in 2013!). They also recently held a joint show in the Blackbox with Quipfire!, Princeton’s Improv Team. Fordham Standup members frequently perform at Gotham Comedy club, as well as at various open Mic Nights around the city. 

Verbal Essences member Adam Seighman performing a spoken word poem!

Each group holds auditions every semester to take on new members, and even if you don’t hear the stage calling your name, the shows are a great way to spend a Friday or Saturday night! My friends and I go to a show almost every weekend, and I have yet to miss a Standup show. Fordham is full of so many talented, funny people, and FET is a great way for students to showcase their talents!

Club Spotlight! Fordham Student Culinary Council

SCC Members during their Club Fair!

One club that is unique to Fordham is the Fordham Student Culinary Council. They serve as a liaison between Sodexo, Fordham’s food supplier, and Fordham’s students. Because members of the club serve as liaisons between the company and the Fordham community at large, they actually get paid! The members have a choice between receiving either Declining Balance Dollars (also known as DCB; students can use these at any of our retail locations on campus like Cosi or Panda Express) or a check for their work. Within the club, there are five different committees: the Marketplace, Marketing, Nutrition, Sustainability, and Retail. Each of these committees consists of a group of students to discuss innovative ideas for how to improve their specific areas. 

One of my friends, Allie St. Angelo, serves on the Executive Board as the Nutrition Committee Co-Chair. As the Nutrition Co-Chair, she has biweekly meetings with Sodexo management to talk about updates from her weekly committee meetings. Her group is in charge of making campus have as many nutritious and healthy options as possible. She also works with Melanie Ordway, Fordham’s registered dietitian. The dietitian is one of Fordham Dining’s many resources to help students live a healthy lifestyle.

The famous Smoothie Bike!

She told me about one of their upcoming events. In a couple of weeks, they will have a Thanksgiving Dinner in the Marketplace. They will set up tables with different traditional Thanksgiving foods as well as fun Thanksgiving-themed activities. They might even bring out the Smoothie Bike! This is a bike that powers a blender, so you can make a smoothie while you exercise. Personally, I can’t wait for the SCC Thanksgiving dinner. SCC always puts on delicious, fun events that I look forward to. Last year, I even won a Google Nexus 7 tablet during a Scavenger Hunt that they put on!

Another fun event put on by SCC - a cupcake decorating contest!

Follow @fordhamSCC and @fordham_dining on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to hear about what they’re doing and see pictures of all their events!

All photos in this article are courtesy of @fordhamSCC on Instagram.