The newly named NMHU club hopes to recruit new members who want to give back
August 8, 2023
HU Student Social Engagement Club
When the pandemic hit, many clubs at NMHU disappeared, including the former Undergraduate Social Work Student Association. During the spring semester of 2023, clubs began to reappear. The former Social Work-affiliated club is now named the HU Student Social Engagement Club. The new name is aimed at encouraging students from all disciplines to join the club and engage in social and community outreach.
According to Assistant Professor and BSW Program Coordinator of Social Work, Dr. Ben Bencomo, the HU Student Social Engagement Club is entirely student led.
“Every year, each group of students is passionate about different causes,” Dr. Bencomo said. “They’ve provided anti-bullying and social-emotional learning presentations in local schools, outreach and support to local libraries, provided at one point over 200 food baskets to families in the region, and advocated in support of voting rights.”
In the spring, the club organized a hygiene drive that culminated in a Child Abuse Prevention Family Fun Day. All hygiene products collected were then donated to the Samaritan House homeless shelter in Las Vegas, Pete’s Place community homeless shelter in Santa Fe, and to the NMHU General Store and Pantry on the NMHU campus. The club also partnered with the City of Las Vegas and other community organizations in Las Vegas on an Earth Day Community Cleanup event to help clean up a section of Hot Springs Boulevard in Las Vegas.
“We’ve partnered with homeless shelters, local school districts, and community advocacy groups and several other community organizations,” Dr. Bencomo said. “We’ve also partnered with other clubs on campus in the past, such as the PRISM Club where we engaged in advocacy for LGBTQIA rights, and we partnered with the MEChA Club on campus several years ago as well.”
Current members of the HU Student Social Engagement Club hope to recruit more members when the fall semester begins and to expand on social and community outreach activities throughout the upcoming school year.
Interested students can contact faculty advisor Dr. Bencomo at bbencomo@nmhu.edu.