Get involved on campus with Bobcat Connect

Getting involved on campus is easy with Bobcat Connect and can help students gain valuable experience and meet new people.

Bobcat Connect is a directory of all student organizations on all Ohio University campuses, Associate Director of Student Activities Josh Gruenke said. He said OHIO typically has close to 600 organizations.

Students can visit https://ohio.campuslabs.com/engage/ to access Bobcat Connect. The homepage has a search bar that allows users to search for certain events, organizations or news articles.

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There is an events tab that can be used to find upcoming events and a news tab with news from organizations. It can be filtered based on when the event will take place.

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The site’s organizations tab has an alphabetical list of the organizations. The search can be filtered based on whether it is overseen by the Campus Involvement Center or Sorority and Fraternity Life. The search can also be filtered based on categories such as “journalism” or “outdoor activities.”

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The news tab has links to articles about clubs or organizations and can be filtered based on the category.

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The service tab lists additional community service opportunities in the area.

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The forms tab has a list of forms for clubs and organizations, but some of the forms can only be accessed by making an account. One of those forms is the Involvement Calculator. 

Creating an account is quick and easy and allows users to use the Involvement Calculator. The Involvement Calculator asks users to share their interests. Users will first enter their contact information and will then be asked to choose from a list of categories that might interest them.

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The Involvement Calculator will ask more specific questions along the way to help narrow the search. For example, someone who chose recreation will be asked more specific questions such as what kind of activities they like to do.

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Users will later receive an email with the contact information for organizations that match them best. Students should continue to check the Bobcat Connect Calendar often for meetings, events and live chats. 

Gruenke said being involved can also help students gain skills to talk about in job interviews and meet faculty advisers who could write them letters of recommendation someday. 

“Involved students are more likely to persist through to graduation than their non-involved peers,” Gruenke said.

Students can also attend the Involvement Fair on Aug. 22. The event will take place on the College Green after the First-Year Student Convocation.