Warrior Link

BY ANGELA A. ACHEY
SC Contributing Writer

Imagine you are an East Stroudsburg University student sitting in your dorm room flipping through basic cable channels with nothing to do.

You roll over to your laptop, browse meaningless babble on Facebook and Twitter but then get a much better idea! You log onto esu.colligatelink.net, also known as Warrior Link, and see a media corkboard filled with events happening right now on campus.

Activities might include a 4-on-4 soccer tournament held at the Rec, a fundraiser for breast cancer, a workshop to help build your resume or even, during the winter, a giant snowball fight scheduled out on the quad.

You’re intrigued and want to know more about the clubs that are hosting these events so you browse the vast selection of clubs which may include the Stroud Courier, S.A.D.D, The Feminist Alliance, Game Society, and many others.

That is exactly what ESU sophomore Mervin Perez did before joining three different clubs and tremendously enhancing his college experience.

Instead of sitting around in his room all day or going out and drinking all night, Perez decided to look at other options available to the ESU student body. Warrior Link, a website that is updated with clubs, organizations, events and activities, is always at students’ fingertips.

“College is about experience and what better way is there to experience college than to join a club or organization and make some friends who share a common interest?” said Mervin Perez, a sophomore at ESU.

Warrior Link offers students the option of joining a club or activity using the Internet, as well as informing them of events that are happening around campus.

The Rec Center is continuously having activities, whether it’s Zuma classes weeknights or a basketball tournament Friday night, it’s posted to Warrior Link. The homepage of the website is a corkboard that shows all upcoming events. Not all of them have to do with a club or activity—some of them are just events the campus will host.

When clicking on ‘2013 Success Series Event’ from the corkboard, a window appears that displays more information about the event.

From this screen there is an option to add it to someone’s personal Google calendar, a simple concept that makes Warrior Link useful and convenient.

“I personally enjoy knowing where to look for events on campus. It’s also less cluttered than trying to read the bulletin board in Stroud,” Perez explains. “I like that I can research a club or organization before I join it too.”

Each club and organization has its own webpage within the Warrior Link site. On each of their webpages they all have their mission statement, future events, and personnel involved.

“I can join the club straight from the website or even email someone from the club to ask questions,” Perez said as he prepares to send an email to the Anime Club president. Approximately 1,000 students are currently using Warrior Link to connect with East Stroudsburg University’s clubs, organizations and ESU sponsored events.

The future goal of Warrior Link is to get all recognized student organizations signed in and maintaining their organizational profile.

From there, the goal is to have other University departments that offer out-of-the-classroom experiences set up an organizational profile.

This will give students access to a wider range of activities for them to get involved in. Currently, 147 clubs are using Warrior Link as the central hub for their advertising, listing of roster members, recruiting new members, and keeping in contact with the student body as a whole.

The next time you find yourself sitting at home with nothing to do or wishing you had somewhere to go, log on and check out Warrior Link.

Email Angela at:
angelaachey@yahoo.com