While you were playing at the beach last summer, Insider staff ran a secret contest for the best new club idea.
The winner: A Photoshop Club.
If you only have time to read one awesome club idea this year, make it this one.
We would convince De Anza College administrators to turn college computers over to our club so our members could bitmap and manipulate to our heart’s delight on important Photoshop projects. Hey, we’re talking LOLcatz: photos of cats with funny captions using bad grammar and spelling.
Good Photoshop skills are important for career success and for picking up hot dates at the Elephant Bar. Nothing attracts a potential “friend with benefits” like a picture of a cat getting a bath with a misspelled, vulgar caption. Our club will prepare De Anza students for a life of monetary, material and casual sex (with a condom, please).
And think of the Photoshopping possibilities beyond cat antics. These assignments would all give our members important work experience: placing mustaches on babies, creating cigarette-smoking squirrels and moving letters around to form obscene McDonalds signs.
Our club would hold workshops on learning and practicing LOLSpeak and l33t speak, enabling students to communicate better in any geek setting. Our members would share their secrets to awesomeness, like how to do layers and how to use the healing brush.
The club would be a service to other clubs as we would create posters for their promotional activities. We’d have an annual exhibition of students’ work and post it on our club Web site.
For more information on the noteworthy activities that will take place in our club, visit http://www.mydamnchannel.com for the educational video series that taught us everything we know: You Suck At Photoshop.
Now all we need is an adviser and some members. You volunteering?

How to Start a Club
7 easy steps to start your club

by Jen Welsh

PLANNING YOUR CLUB

First decide what kind of club you want to start; it can be a chapter of a national or state club, or something completely unique to De Anza.
Recruit one or more De Anza faculty or staff members to advise the club and to be actively involved in supporting the club’s goals.

WRITING YOUR CLUB’S CONSTITUTION

When you’ve decided on your club, set up a meeting with any Inter Club Council Officer to learn the tricks to running a club and writing its constitution.
When your club has written its constitution using the council’s template, submit a copy to one of the Inter Club Council officers for review before the club’s first meeting.

THE FIRST MEETING

Plan the first meeting with at least ten interested De Anza Collegee students and the club’s faculty advisers. Submit a meeting room request form for the planned meeting date to the Student Activities Office at least ten days before the scheduled gathering.
At the first meeting, club members will review the constitution and vote to approve it.

GETTING APPROVED

Attend and present three copies of the club’s constitution at the Inter Club Council Officers’ agenda meeting. The constitution will be reviewed for compliance with the Inter Club Council Codes.
If the Inter Club Council recommends changes, you will have to revise and re-present the constitution at the next agenda meeting.

NEW CLUB ON TRIAL STATUS

Once approved by the Inter Club Council Executive Committee, new club on trial status is announced.
When your club is approved, remember to mail a copy of the final club constitution to ICCAdvisor@deanza.edu.

FINALIZE CLUB STATUS

After all that work, your club has three weeks to do the following:
• Complete and turn in a club financial roster at a new club orientation with the names of all club officers, club adviser(s) and an Inter Club Council officer.
• Submit an event planning form for monthly meetings to the Student Activities Office.

BEING AN OFFICIAL CLUB

Once the trial period is ended, the club will receive the club’s copy code for duplicating materials, a $100 startup allocation and all club benefits.
The club’s Inter Club Council representative must attend weekly Inter Club Council meetings to keep active club status.

For more information on starting a club and a list of current de anza clubs, please visit: http://www.deanza.edu/clubs/