by Sonny Ebsary

The SPC Seminole Gamers club is a large, prominent, and growing school club that has been unsuccessfully lobbying for funding from student government since the fall semester last year. Is there an end to this process in sight?

The large room in the library where they hold their weekly meetings every Thursday is packed with students playing games of all sorts, from video games to even the simpler board and card games. The club provides a recreational service for students, and greater funding would better fulfill that desire with more games, and therefore a greater spectrum of students to be serviced with those games. “We’re doing pretty well. We’re somewhere around 35 members, making us one of the largest clubs on campus, last I checked,” Club president Brandon “Mooba” Conyers (pictured below) said in our brief interview.

But what has the process been like for the club representation in their journey to acquire funding, and why has it gone on for so long? During one of the club meetings I attended, the club representatives, Brandon Conyers and vice-president Maria Delgado, excitedly bring forward the proposition to the club of exactly what they should buy if and when the school funding comes, and the room lights up with suggestions ranging anywhere from new controllers, new consoles and new games to the far more achievable goal of a deck of playing cards. It’s clear that the people involved in this club are passionate about and committed to their hobby, and it begs the question: why has the response from student government been so relatively tepid? “We didn’t know what we needed to do.” Brandon said earnestly. “When we did apply for funding, we’d not be responded to for weeks at a time. It’s frustrating,” He added.

Some club members blame the snafu on their old SGA liaison, who has since resigned. Whether it’s matter of not believing the club to be important enough to get school funding, or simple forgetfulness depends on who you ask. “When we eventually got through to them with our requests, they told us to reserve the Wii U we wanted at Target, but after we did it, nothing came of it.” Brandon said.

If you walk into the club today, you’ll probably find its members playing their new Wii U, though the story of how they eventually got it was outside of the normal school channels. Brandon bought his own, and has been bringing it in himself for the benefit of the entire club, much to the delight of many of its members. Regardless of intellectual hardships, interpersonal crises, and financial struggles, if you walked into the club today, you’d simply find a group of people playing games, forming bonds, and laying down their burdens, if only for a while.