After a one-year hiatus, the UF geography club is back in action.
"It is a service, outdoors and social club sort of all combined into one," said Hannah Herrero, 23, a UF geography doctoral student and member of the club, which will start mentoring geography students and freshmen this year.
Last school year, the club didn’t exist, she said.
There were about 10 active members in the organization the year before and most of those members graduated.
Nobody stepped up to continue the club.
But this year, Herrero re-established the club, which now has about 25 members and recruits geography students with a passion for geography, Herrero said.
"I decided it’s really important to me, and I’m sure there’s other people who would like to see this happen, but they just need to get the ball rolling," she said.
The club is implementing a new mentor program.
It will allow for a graduate or doctoral student to mentor undergraduate students about classes, research opportunities and internships, said Ben Shever, 21, president of the geography club.
He said he wants the club to reach out to freshmen who don’t know what to major in.
Many of the graduate students in the club teach courses at UF, so their experience can be helpful to undergraduate students, Herrero said.
"They’ll be able to mentor them not just in the actual classes... but also just give them advice on what classes would be good to take given their interests," she said.
Next month, the club will host a camping trip to Manatee Springs State Park, Herrero said.
"We all really like the outdoors, and nature is an important part of physical and cultural geography," she said.
The group will be hiking, swimming and kayaking, Herrero said.
"And of course we’re going to participate in the great American camping activity of s’mores making," she said.
