By Adelia Sindunata

A group of students were busy doing some projects for Earth Week at SCC, from April 20-21. Wearing white t-shirts, some of them were welcoming the students who came to watch a movie in room 9202 while the rest of them were in charge of a recycling booth. They also offered free popcorn not only for the movie audience, but also to other students who passed by.
Meet The Worldly Philosopher and Dismal Scientists’ Society, the group of students behind the project.
The Worldly Philosopher and Dismal Scientists’ Society, often referred as WPDSS or Economics Club, was established in 1989. On its twenty-seventh year, WPDSS has 61 members.
Muhammad Argya, a second year student studying International Studies, joined WPDSS in Fall 2015 after his macroeconomics instructor told him about an extra credit opportunity –coming to this club. He found this club was more interesting than just extra credits.
“On my first meeting, we played a game, and it caught my attention,” Argya said. “They also have interesting projects, so I decided to stay in this club.”
Yet, Thanasath Siripornrungrueng, an international student from Thailand who recently joined WPDSS, has a different reason for coming to the club.
“I joined this club because it is good for my resume,” he said. “Besides that, I want to be active in the campus, and WPDSS meeting times matches my schedule so it is a good opportunity for me.”
Hawa Coulibaly, the vice president of this club, said that the purpose of this club is to exchange ideas about political and economic issues, and also give opportunities for students to get engaged in discussions about economy concepts. In this club, the students are divided into groups and they were encouraged to speak in the group discussions.
“Many times our topics are economics related,” Coulibaly said. “Our club advisor, Kimberly Lothyan, always incorporate economics concept into our activities.”
According to Coulibaly, the students are divided into groups to provide equal chances for them to share their ideas.
“With a smaller number of students in each group, there will be less chance for anyone to do nothing in the meetings,” she said. “It also helps the students to engage well in conversations.”
In addition to discussions, WPDSS also works on projects. Their latest project is the recycling booth and the movie event for Earth Week. For this project, the club members were divided into groups to decorate, research and prepare the booth.
Being a big club, Coulibaly said that they have their own challenges.
“There are few times when we face time conflicts, or we don’t know how to do a task,” she said. “However, with the support of our club advisor and all members, we are able to overcome those problems.”
The members have their own interesting experiences. Being a new member, Siripornrungrueng said that he has limited experience in this club, but he has had one rather interesting moment.
“I just joined this club recently, but there was one time when we discussed a documentary movie and connected it with economy concepts,” Siripornrungrueng said. “So far, that is the most interesting experience I’ve ever had in this club.”
Yet, Argya has a different answer about his most interesting experience in WPDSS.
“The most interesting experience for me is the Earth Week project,” Argya said. “We (have) discussed this project since February, and we did the recycling booth and movie event.”
According to Coulibaly, the WPDSS will host a game event on June 1, 2016.
“It will be a quiz game about economics, politics and geography, where 2 players are answering questions and whoever gets the right answer first will get the points,” Coulibaly said. “All students are welcome to join, and there will be lots of prizes.”
For those who are interested to join this club, the WPDSS meets every Wednesday from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at room 2923.