A diverse group of UW-Eau Claire students with a variety of majors and minors have started meeting weekly under one common denominator. Each member of the group has some sort of interest in ancient studies whether or not it is big or small.
The Ancient Studies Club is on provisional status to become a full-fledged organization on campus. Senior Chelsea Wilfong started thinking about starting the club last year, but she began getting it established in the beginning of the fall
semester of 2012.
“A lot of people are interested in different ancient studies subjects, there is a huge spectrum that everyone is interested in,” Wilfong said. “I never anticipated that.”
Wilfong said the club currently has around 20 members and she did not expect that many people to be interested.
Senior John Walker is a member of the club and has been doing advertising for the group to gain new members.  He said he likes how informal the group is and likes how easy it is to share ideas.
“For anyone who joins the club, it really is something where you can, at some point, gain an access to knowledge of these more classical literature forms,” Walker said.
Matthew Waters, advisor and coordinator for the ancient studies minor, is the advisor of the club.  He said ancient studies can touch upon many different areas including language, literature, history, politics, religion, medicine and more.  The club is a
relaxed way for ancient studies minors and others to gather outside of the classroom context.
“It is simply a group of students who share an interest in the ancient world, broadly defined, whether that interest lies in academic studies or how the ancient world lives on via popular culture,” Waters said.
Wilfong said the group has been discussing things they would like to do as a group. One thing that has come up is having guest speakers come in and talk about different areas of ancient studies.  She said they would like to do that in the spring semester.
Walker said he suggested a movie night to the group.  He would like to watch a movie with the club such as “300” or another movie related to ancient studies and then have a discussion.
Freshman Jeff Kraemer helped Wilfong get the club running in the beginning of the semester.
He said the club is very open.  The group doesn’t just talk about ancient studies, but it is the common denominator that brings everyone together.
“(In the Ancient Studies Club) you’ll meet new people, you’ll meet a bunch of new ideas, you’ll come across some things that you never would have,” he said.
Wilfong said she wants the club to be a community where people can talk about ancient studies whether it is academic or a pastime. She said the group will do more planning and organizing this fall and they hope to have events and activities
next semester.
“Our main goal right now is just getting our name out there and letting people know that there is a community of people who are super interested in ancient studies,” Wilfong said.
The Ancient Studies Club meets at 4:30 p.m. every Wednesday in room 314 of Hibbard Humanities Hall.