Seven new student associations have been set up this semester, making extra curricula activities even more irresistible. These new clubs are Sweet Home Student Association, Business Management Student Association, TK-International, Lyric Writing and Composition Student Association, Extreme Dance Student Association, PR Student Association, and International Youth Student Association.

TK-International is like the United Nations, with members from different parts of the world. The chair of the organization, Marco Ortmann, a German studying at the Department of Russian, has been in Taiwan for five years, 3 of them spent at Tamkang. His experience told him that foreign students in Taiwan would appreciate support from one another on a regular basis, so he set up this association with the help of the Office of International Exchanges and International Education. Currently, there are over 100 members with 20 to 30 nationalities ranging from Britain to Nicaragua to Romania. Most of the time, they communicate in English and despite various accents, they all seem to understand one another perfectly well.

Public Relations Student Association, according to its founder, Lin Chung-Pao, a junior at the Department of Education Technology, was initially meant for the PR staff of each departmental student organization only. However, it has just been decided recently to extend their membership to non-PR staff. They are planning a big event when participants wear school uniform for one day—apparently a popular pastime in Taiwan, provided you don’t have to wear it everyday, of course.

Sweet Home Student Association wants to attract students who would like to have a little bit warmth of home when they are away from home. Most members are from single families, but it is a coincident rather than the rule, the chair, Chen Tien-hsiang from the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, said. He wants anyone who misses home to join.

Liu Shiuan-ting, the Chair of the Lyric Writing and Composition Association, explains that he and his members basically just want to have a creative space to jam together. Anyone who enjoys bouncing ideas off one anther are welcome to join. Liu intends to invite record companies or music producers for workshops or presentations.

Extreme Dance Club, according to its founder, Yeh Fu-mao, a junior at the Department of English, was formed by him and his friends out of the love for break dance. However, they would certainly expand their repertoire to other kinds of challenging forms of dancing.

Business Management Student Association and International Youth Student Association, the newest one of the seven, are recruiting new members. The latter aims to have but not limited to overseas Chinese students studying at Tamkang. If you fit the profile, don’t wait.( ~Ying-hsueh Hu )