Student Senate voted 16-1 in favor of approving the Study Abroad Club as a new Registered Student Organization Wednesday evening.

Some senators expressed their concerns approving the RSO because of its small size: three members as of Wednesday.

But after discussion, some senators argued that the club would likely attract more members anyway.

Amanda Kiessling, president of the Study Abroad Club and a senior Spanish major, said her goals are to raise awareness because a lot of students do not know how many resources and countries they have to offer.

Kiessling said all students can join the club as long as they are interested in learning about studying abroad. She said it is even better if interested students have experience.

She said social media promotion is one of the routes she will take when recruiting new members.

“We have a lot of ideas. I’m actually the social media head at the Study of Abroad Office, so I have some experience in this. I plan on posting on my own social media,” Kiessling said.

Kiessling said students also give their contact information to the workers at the office if they are interested.

“We will reach out to returning study abroad students and put up some posters. I believe when I visited the Student Activities Center, they told me that we may be able to set up a stand at the Union to put the word out and talk to students about it,” Kiessling said.

Claude Samira Abdoulaye Pedila, Vice President of Student Affairs and senior psychology major, said it has been challenging to get more minorities involved with student activities on campus.

“I know that in the past four years that I’ve been here, this is the first year where I’ve seen a lot of minorities go to the events that have been put on, so hopefully through word of mouth and hopefully the event I have with the Zetas and NAACP we will get people out and get involved on campus,” Pedila said.

Jelan Buchanan can be reached at 581-2812 or at jjbuchanan@eiu.edu.