Wake up, go to class, drive home, eat dinner, do homework, sleep. Community college students know this daily routine all too well.

But the biggest thing lacking from this community college experience? A feeling of community that students would typically find in four-year schools. It’s easy to just show up, do the work, and get out, reassuring yourself that you’ll find friends when you transfer, or that if people really wanted to talk to you they would.

Cabrillo students Olivia Iturria and Lila Clemenson, both 19, saw this happening in their own lives and decided to do something about it – so they started the Carpe Diem club (for those wondering, carpe diem means ‘seize the day’ in latin.)

The two had noticed the Cabrillo campus felt very disconnected, with not much room for socializing in class or even around campus.

One of the biggest driving factors of this closed-off environment is that often, local students already have their friends from high school and don’t feel the need to put in the effort of making more.

Starting the club in Fall 2022, Iturria and Clemenson post monthly social gatherings on the Carpe Diem Instagram, where anyone from Cabrillo is welcome to attend. The club takes suggestions from its members and determines the best time and activity of the month including things such as pumpkin carving and roller skating.

While there are many clubs on campus that students can join to meet like-minded people, Carpe Diem is the only club whose sole purpose is to meet other students and form friendships.

Currently in her first year at Cabrillo, Iturria came up with the idea for the club while she was still in high school. She noticed that all of the clubs at Cabrillo were only for specialized, niche interests. If you didn’t have an interest in any of these topics, you had to find another way of meeting people. That’s one of the aspects that Iturria says she loves about Carpe Diem, that it’s a club for anyone.

Clemenson, a second-year student originally from Folsom, California, said, “Moving from a new area made it especially hard to meet people. I felt that people already had their friends, there were already specific groups.”

But Clemenson also acknowledged that there is room for growth. Many students want to make friends, they just don’t know where to start.

Many students say they feel closed off or uncomfortable until someone else makes the first move.

First-year student Julia McCartney said that “if an extrovert were to start talking to me, I would then become an extrovert and start talking a lot. It just takes someone to be friendly and start talking.”

McCartney has found that during breaks in class, the default for most students is to stay in their own shell and not seek out connection, usually checking their phones or listening to music to tune out.

On the occasion where a classmate feels friendly enough to put themselves out there though, many students say it is usually well-received.

Clemenson and Iturria understand this is easier said than done, however, that’s why they started Carpe Diem, to put the first hand out there and make it easier for people to go about finding their community.

The two say they already see a difference in the engagement around campus. Iturria says, “I say ‘hi’ to a handful of Carpe Diem members every time I go to campus, it totally brightens my day.”

Some other ways that students have found their communities are by starting study groups or joining some of the on-campus bible study groups.

Whether you introduce yourself to your next deskmate, join Carpe Diem, or form a study group in that extra tough class, everyone deserves the chance to find a community in community college.