Everyone talks about “making friends” in college. Not going to lie — making friends is so, so easy when you’ve joined a club you love.
But how do you know what club this is? How can you pick, out of the countless clubs that crowd campus during Fall Fest, the one that’ll be the right fit for you?
For me, it was easy. I was a swimmer for six years; it was natural that I join the club swim team. And that was fine for freshman year. But as the year ended, I found that I was missing something. I was passionate about food, but none of the food-related clubs on campus really spoke to me.
And Renzo, who was in Australia for his first semester of college, felt disconnected from the clubs he joined when he came back. Both of us were looking for something more.
GIF courtesy of giphy.com
We came across Spoon in different ways.
I heard about it through a friend that had a friend in another Spoon chapter; I became an editorial intern for the summer, then stayed on as a national contributor. I loved it and I loved my little remote community, but I didn’t feel that there would be enough interest at Northeastern to start a chapter.
I was wrong.
Renzo, who I had no idea existed at the time, was the one with the hustle to get Spoon started.
He later told me how it came to be:
When I first applied to start a Spoon chapter at Northeastern, I was in the library and came across Spoon through an online job site because I wanted to find something that I could do in college. At the time, Greek life wasn’t for me and I couldn’t find a club that suited my interests, so might as well start something new.
My way, like I’ve always done in the past. Why join something when you can create and curate it yourself?
And with that, Renzo and I met, and for the next three months, we lived and breathed Spoon. We came up with an application process and interviewed countless applicants. We put together meetings and grouped writers with photographers, who were then able to get us nine articles in three weeks — for a newborn chapter, that is amazing.
We have so many people to thank, so many people we’ve met that not only love food as much as we do, but love Spoon, love the community that we’ve built together.
Sawyer Hammond, our favorite Spoon fanboy, once said he’d dress up as anything, giant hot dog included, in order to promote Spoon. Without Sawyer, Renzo said he honestly wouldn’t have the courage to get “out there,” to make connections, to ask directly, to be aggressive.
Photo by Victoria Romulo
Chelsea Pe Benito, social media guru. She was Spoon’s number one supporter from day one, and now is killin’ it as our Social Media Manager.
Alex Kaneshiro, our founding team’s creative director. Renzo and I are both endlessly awed by her videography and photography skills.
Monica Zunick, our new Editorial Director for 2016-2017. She puts passion behind every single word she writes.
Photo by Monica Zunick
Nicole Lacasse, our new Photo Director for 2016-2017 and Monica’s other half. They’re the power team and full of fantastic ideas.
Victoria Romulo, photographer extraordinare; KJ Carlstrom, who started out in Marketing but now is a killer writer, and whose articles are every bit as brave and funny and amazing as she is. Dyan Khor, my other half, who contributed from across the country our first semester and who’s always down to write California articles with me. And everyone else who we had on our founding team, even the ones that ended up leaving us. But the ones that stayed, we couldn’t love more.
GIF courtesy of giphy.com
It’s been an immense pleasure watching everyone grow, not only from an editorial standpoint, but seeing them grow to love each other as fellow members and as friends.
We have so many new members who feel like old friends; so many people who are killin’ it consistently:
Jen Hayashi, who wrote articles consistently even when she was in the UK; Zoe Karavolis, one of our newest members, but one who picked up writing like it was second nature; Zoe Pesce, who’s one of our most fashionable members and always finds surprising ways to tie fashion with food.
Hope Luria, Gabi Jorge, and Fernanda Hurtado, who are our power trio and make perfect smoothie bowls. Angela Bersani, one of the most enthusiastic freshmen.
Kaely Gallagher, whose articles are not only helpful, but thought-provokingly wonderful as well. Emily Gordon, who makes the most mouth-watering recipe vids you’ll ever see; and so many more.
It’s more than just going to brunch and watching us all stand up and take photos before anyone even thinks of taking a bite. It’s more than just fan-girling (or fan-boying) over the newest restaurant that opened.
Photo by Victoria Romulo
It’s finding a family among the people whose articles you take photos for, edit, read, and/or share. It’s knowing that you’ll have someone to go with you to food tours or the vegan restaurant you’ve always wanted to try. It’s trusting your fellow members enough to be blindfolded and try unknown foods.
We’ve had successes and failures; we’ve struggled and we’ve learned. We’ve gone through wild ups and downs. And crazy enough, we’ve been one of the top chapters in all of Spoon.
Photo by Nancy Chen
And through it all, we’ve truly become a family. And we couldn’t thank you all enough.
Photo courtesy of random assistant of President Aoun
Never forks,
Renzo and Nancy
Photos courtesy of @spoonuniversity on Snapchat
If you are looking for a way to get involved and branch out on campus, we suggest getting involved with Spoon on your campus, or founding your own chapter. Email britney@spoonuniversity.com if you’re interested in becoming a founder at your school.