With club rush week in full effect, Diablo Valley College students have had the opportunity to interact with a variety of students who are representing different organizations on campus.

Many of these clubs set up their tables alongside one another, with organization officers frequently socializing with each other along with the thousands of hopeful and interested students walking by.

This socialization (in more technical terms: networking) allows students to meet new people and gain future friends, classmates, colleagues or even business partners.

Elijah Pipersburg, a 21-year-old political science major and president of the DVC Consulting Club, felt the benefits of networking could serve the DVC student body immensely. He noticed club officers and members of clubs were only interacting with one another on campus and that students in clubs could benefit from seeing, socializing and sharing ideas with each other off campus.

Pipersburg and the DVC Consulting Club hosted a “Welcome Back Party” on Friday Feb. 13 as an attempt to bring the wide range of unique clubs and organizations together to socialize, network, enjoy food, and party with one another, at the newly opened lounge ‘9gamezone,’ located in the Pleasant Hill Shopping Center.

The event featured participation from over a dozen different clubs. The students who attended were able to enjoy the plethora of amenities featured at the venue including: five pool tables, 10 individual box lounges (with couches), 11 flat screen TVs and monitors, two fish tanks, an ATM machine, a bar serving food and non-alcoholic beverages and three private rooms for karaoke.

DVC Consulting Club’s Vice President of Programming Sasmit Pokharel greeted guests at the door who were charged either $3 or $10 depending on their invitation, and was excited about hosting the event.

“It’s a positive and welcoming party,” he said. “Primarily for networking, so clubs at DVC can get to know each other and help each other grow in the future by working together.”

Theatre major Monica Minix, 22, represented DVC’s Dramatic Society at the function. “I almost didn’t come,” she said. “But I’m glad I did, and I hope to meet new people and gain contacts from other clubs.”

Rohan Ashar, a former DVC student and University of California Berkeley Haas School of Business graduate, attended with friends from DVC clubs, and acknowledged the benefits of such an event.

“Its a great idea for an event because the business world is all about networking and without it, one cannot progress both socially and professionally.” Ashar said. “Cal had a lot of opportunities to network, and I believe DVC should implement more of these events to prepare their students for the professional world.”