Emily Dressel
Staff Writer
The newest addition to Florida Southern College’s extracurricular scene trades textbooks for fins to explore the underwater world: the Snorkel Club.
Senior Danielle Durfee has always loved the ocean, so before she arrived at FSC she knew she wanted to start a scuba club.
“I had recently gotten my certification for scuba, and I was like, I want to find people down there who want to do the same thing I want to do,” Durfee said.
She then started on the mission to scout people who would be interested in exploring the ocean with her. Through her sophomore and junior years, she continued to search; however, balancing being a college student and trying to find people with the same interest in starting a scuba club became difficult, so the idea faded.
But when senior year rolled around, Durfee couldn’t ignore the itch to make the scuba club a reality.
“Up comes my senior year, and I’m talking with the advisor of the club, Dr. Durland…she recommended Molly Kennedy as my vice president, as I would be president because this is my passion project,” Durfee said.
From there, Durfee reached out to Kennedy, and she was immediately excited to join the endeavor. The two continued to reach out to friends to build an executive board and organically found like-minded peers who were also passionate about bringing the club to campus.
“We originally wanted it to be a scuba club and not a snorkel club, so we sent in the application to CSI for a scuba club…” Durfee said. “Ultimately, the decision they gave us was to change the club to something else, or we could have the scuba club, but it would have to be $250 for insurance.”
Durfee and the executive board understood that their primary objective was to ensure the club remained affordable and accessible. However, their determination to bring this passion project to fruition persisted, driven by their desire to guide students toward the ocean.
“The whole purpose of the club was to find a community of people across the campus who were all interested in this, and all wanted to do it together, not just those who can afford it,” Durfee said.
This influenced the name change from scuba to a snorkel-centric club.
The club was then approved, and an executive board was formed. The board consists of President Durfee, Vice President Kennedy, Secretary Cameron Cartier, Treasurer Mahailee Parker, and Events Coordinators Ashley Howard and Lexi Trevillian.
Their first general body meeting was Feb. 21 at 10:50 a.m. in Polk Science 155. The club will typically hold meetings on Mondays, Wednesdays, or Fridays during convo hour, and they have the goal of having one snorkel trip a month on the weekends. Durfee said they have a tentative date for a snorkel at Devil’s Den already in mind.
The club is already seeing a promising amount of engagement and interest, with great success at Relaunch, with over 100 people joining GroupMe. The club is open to every major and all levels of experience, from novice to well-seasoned snorkelers.
Through a partnership with the biology department, a limited amount of equipment is available to be borrowed. Many of the snorkel destinations have gear rental, too. However, renting can get expensive, so members who are serious about snorkeling frequently are encouraged to invest in gear.
The overarching goal is to build a diverse, on-campus community of people who love and want to explore the ocean while also touching on the vulnerable state of our ocean and bringing awareness to environmental-related issues. The executive board hopes to bring in professionals or academic professors to speak on current ways to save our ocean and the planet. Durfee wants there to be a balance of both fun and education.
“Once you make that connection with the ocean, there is nothing that stops you from wanting to protect it,” Durfee said.
The executive board, mainly seniors, has felt this experience of creating a club in their last semester of college to be bittersweet. Their goal is to reach as many people as possible and to make the club as fun and long-standing as they can before they embark on their next chapter.
“I would love to hear in a couple of years that it is still running,” Durfee said.
