By Erin Brody, Arts & Culture Editor
Saint Vincent College students constantly look for different clubs and organizations to participate in, but sometimes, a certain club they would love to be a part of does not exist. When this is the case, we see new clubs being established, and this semester, SVC gained at least two more clubs: the Audio-Visual (AV) Club and the Bearcat Billiards Club.
Sophomore communications major Reilly McKay is the founder and president of the AV Club. He noticed the lack of “a go-to space for filmmakers” and recalled how associate professor Mr. David Safin mentioned that a club “for people who love movies, creating content, and acting” did not exist. It was at that point that McKay decided to create the club in fall of 2022 and make its debut in spring of 2023.
“We offer a space for content creators, such as filmmakers and podcasters, to come together and assist each other on projects that club members are working on,” McKay said. “We take time to watch and discuss movies and dive deeper to see what the movie was saying/interesting facts about how the movie was made.”
Despite being a newer club, AV Club has had a great turnout, and many students have been using it as an opportunity to work on both their own and others’ projects. McKay has the chance to work on his project “Hamburger of Sadness”, which stars two other club members.
“I hope in the future, the AV Club continues to grow and acquire more passionate content creators for next year,” McKay said. “I hope by the time I graduate that there will be a firm foundation so that the club may continue well past my time here at Saint Vincent (College).”
As for Bearcat Billiards, the club started off in a joking manner. Sophomore data science and mathematics double major Mason Seftas is the founder and president of Bearcat Billiards and he explained how it came to be:
“This idea started in the spring of 2022 when a bunch of my friends and I played a ton of pool at SVC. One day we jokingly said we should make it a club, then come fall 2022 we decided to take that joke seriously and fill out paperwork to make it a recognized club on campus,” Seftas said.
Bearcat Billiards gives students the opportunity to try their hand at the game of pool and enhance their skills. And, like any club on campus, one does not need prior experience to join. The club welcomes those of any skill level because, as Seftas said, the club exists as another way for students to engage in fellowship.
While Bearcat Billiards has had only three events so far, the club has had a good turnout for each, and Seftas has big hopes for the future of the club.
“A very ambitious goal of our club is to turn part of it into a pool league,” Seftas said. “This would involve having teams or soloists play throughout the semester to get seeded for an end of the year tournament.”
Both clubs were also present during Spring Family Weekend, and each had exciting raffle opportunities. The AV Club came into possession of a life-sized cardboard cutout of “The Last of Us” actor and famous TikTok heartthrob Pedro Pascal and decided to host a “Pic with Pedro” event where students could take a picture with the actor. To top it off, the AV Club raffled the cutout to one lucky student.
Meanwhile, Bearcat Billiards hosted a pool shooting competition where contestants had to make nine balls in the fewest number of shots to win a $20 gift card. The club also had an event the Thursday before Spring Family Weekend where students played pool within their own dorms to be entered into a raffle.
While both clubs are newer, they are excited for their opportunities to become bigger and share their passions on the Saint Vincent campus.
If you or someone you know is interested in Bearcat Billiards, please email mason.seftas@stvincent.edu for more information. If you are interested in some of the projects members of the AV Club have been working on, check out some of these titles and artists: Rowdy Dawg Pictures (YouTube), Radan Entertainment (YouTube), D3 Nerds (YouTube and Spotify), Adam Koscielicki (YouTube), and The Tonight Pod (Spotify and Apple Podcasts).
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