The Student Senate approved three new Registered Student Organizations, RSOs, aimed to help students make a change environmentally, Nigerian students to have a community on campus and a pickleball club due to rising pickleball interest.

The three new Registered Student Organizations, RSOs, were approved at the Student Senate meeting on Wednesday.

The organizations approved were EIU Beekeeping and Biodiversity, Nigerian Student Organization and EIU Pickleball Club.

The senate unanimously approved an EIU Pickleball Club RSO.

The EIU Pickleball Club was brought up by Hasan Mavi, professor of kinesiology, sport and recreation department. 

Mavi, after talking to students in his physical education teacher classes, said they enjoyed the idea of this being a club and wanted to join.

The senate unanimously approved for the new RSO EIU Beekeeping and Biodiversity.

Lucas Grindley, a junior environmental biology major, is the president of EIU Beekeeping and Biodiversity. 

Grindley said that he thinks it is important for the club to exist to not only help save bees, but also show that anybody can make a difference.

“I think this club is important to EIU because it can show that anybody can make a difference,” Grindley said. “Our group is full of a variety of different majors and we’re all banding together to promote this idea of making the environment a better place. It doesn’t matter who you are, what year you are, what your major you study, you can play a role in making the world a better place.”

“I hope the role of this coordinates in making the environment better and pushing that idea to future generations for years to come,” Grindley said. “(The idea) that the environment is important.”

The senate approved the Nigerian Student Organization by 15 yeses, and one abstained from Senator Nora Okolie due to her being vice president of the RSO.

Senator Okolie, a freshman biology major, is the vice president of the Nigerian Student Organization, which was approved at the meeting.

“I think one thing that is commonly mistaken would be that in Africa we all know each other and things like that,” Okolie said. “But this is just going to bring the Nigerians closer. I was definitely interested in joining that African Student Association. Unfortunately, I just found out about that this semester. And so, I am interested in that. However, I feel like this is going to be a more tight-knit community for me.”

Okolie was looking for an organization that provided a community, which is why she is excited to be vice president of this organization.

“I think that’s one of the biggest things and the biggest reasons why we actually started the association,” Okolie said. It’s definitely going to help me as well as the Nigerians who are here, help them get to know more Nigerians. I know for a fact that there’s a lot of Nigerians currently on campus that I have never met, so it’s gonna be really nice to be connected again.”

Okolie hopes that this organization helps other Nigerian students help create a community for these students on campus, so they feel more connected to each other.

“Being able to help everyone navigate being in this community,” Okolie said. “One thing for sure that we mentioned during the presentation is getting Nigeria to campus from the airport- that was the big thing. Like when I came here, it was a lot of work for me. It was really nice to see other Nigerians have that convenient for them. And another thing too, is the African grocery store that is in Champaign, so it’s going to be really nice to get there as often. Maybe once a month or something.”

Aside from the three RSOs approved, Caleb Kowalewski, a junior history education major, was also sworn in as a senator at the meeting.

Katja Benz can be reached at 581-2812 or at kkbenz@eiu.edu.