New Club on Campus

Cultural group seeks to share experiencesDan HanowerTHE SANTA CLARAMay 15, 2014[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Persian-American community on campus now has a home of its own.Although there are a significant number of Persian-American students at Santa Clara, there has not been a Registered Student Organization established for this ethnicity on campus until now.The Persian-American Cultural Club was accepted as an RSO April 24. The group aims to bring Persian-American students together with hopes to grow and develop as an organization.Freshman Shayan Manteghi, founder and president of the club, wants to create a place where students with similar cultural backgrounds can meet.“We formed the club because we really wanted to bring the Persian students together,” said Manteghi. “We only know a few, but there are more Persian students at this school.”Sophomore Sherwin Golshani, vice president of the club, explained why bringing the Persian-American students together is so important.“We think that (Persian-Americans) have a lot in common as a culture and we really just wanted to build off of that,” said Golshani. “So far there has been a lot of excitement because now we can all come together for a purpose.”The club wants to reach out to all students as well. Manteghi and Golshani know how much Persian culture has to offer and they want to share this culture with the rest of the student body.Persian-American clubs have already been founded at a number of other universities. However, this club is trying to stand apart from other cultural clubs in one key aspect — they want to focus on member enjoyment, experiences and bonding, rather than learning.“We are not trying to be an educational club,” said Golshani. “We’re hoping to do a lot of other activities that aren’t necessarily focused on learning about the culture, but rather providing an experience and something that people want to be involved with.”The club aims to provide students with entertaining activities, as seen in one of their first events. The club will be traveling to downtown San Jose, Calif., to go see a well-known Persian comedian perform. Golshani hopes that events such as this one will be typical for the club.The Persian-American Cultural Club has been tabling in Benson Memorial Center trying to recruit more students to join the club. It currently has over 30 members and hopes to expand.The Persian-American Cultural Club encourages students with free time in the weeks leading up to finals to attend the next meeting and have some fun while learning about another culture.Manteghi offers a challenge to students who are interested in the club, but are on the fence about whether or not to go.“Just come to one of our meetings,” said Manteghi. “See what it is like and you will want to come back.”Information about the Persian-American Cultural Club can be found on its Facebook page. Contact Dan Hanower at dhanower@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.