How to Create an RSO

MTC Music Bingo

Creating an RSO involves a lot of time management skills and dedication that will help transform your organization into the best and most long-lasting one possible for other students to take part in. An RSO stands for a “registered student organization” that essentially can act as a club for students here on campus to get involved in. The first step is signing up through a form they fill out through Millikin’s website. On the form, a student will list who their advisor is, as well as who they want to elect as president of the organization. This is typically yourself, or someone you and other classmates have elected. You must also declare the treasurer of the group. After that, typically RSO students are allowed to establish any other executive members they feel is required. Lastly, once they have established the team members that are going to have executive roles in running their organization, students must provide a list of five students or more who are interested in joining the organization. 

Students are given many opportunities here on campus to be a part of the lives of new student orgs and pre-existing ones, and they primarily find them through the use of students advertising their organization. However, in order for an RSO to prove successful in being sustainable within the group of classmates, it must also prove viable to Millikin and be deemed beneficial to promote the school and its policies well. This is to protect the chances of students who may be eager to start an RSO, but also might not realize what goes into running one. 

Helena Hashimoto, Millikin’s Coordinator for Student Engagement and Leadership Development, is in charge of the teaching, managing, and regulation of all the RSOs on campus shares the benefits of RSOs for students:

“So many students are multifaceted and want to be involved a lot here on campus. Even if the RSO is outside of their field of study, these skills, especially, in having an executive role in an RSO are very transferable to your future career path you wish to pursue.” Hashimoto says, discussing further how an RSO can become quite the resource needed for building extra-curricular skills and experience that can benefit the construction of resumes. “All of those things go on your resume, CVs, and your portfolio, which employers want to know about. You don’t ever want to shy away from listing out all your skills and experience in anything you’ve especially done or been a part of  in college.”

The team building and team sharing skills that go into being a part of an RSO apply to real-world applications. Not only do these relate to a career, but also personal habits throughout daily life. Campus Student Affairs Assistant, Guy Gahungu, speaks about his time of being in RSO, “I thought it was such a good outlet for me to get connected with others around campus.” Gahungu continues, “A lot of students are usually very nervous when starting off their first semester here at Millikin but being a part of an RSO is what helped me establish a voice here in this community.”

As much as students are strongly encouraged to be a part of an RSO and explore their interests around campus with other students, being a student always comes first. “You’re a student first, you’re here at Millikin, not to be just a president of an RSO or be the top athlete—at the end of the day, excelling in your major and getting that degree is your top responsibility.” Hashimoto emphasizes to students that are wanting to create or be a part of an RSO that life can tend to become more chaotic when trying to over-prioritize whatever organization you are in. Most that have an executive role in their RSO, deal with the tendency to treat their organization as if their life depended on it. These organizations do involve a lot of maintenance and regulation, and without the proper delegation of roles with your group, an RSO can sway your attention from schooling. Hashimoto says, “Sometimes, you have to have those difficult conversations with your peers or RSO presidents about how their attention to their studies is starting to decline and the pressure of it all isn’t being properly managed.” 

Starting an RSO is one of the universities greatest assets to welcoming students to the school along with getting them involved in building their time management and leadership skills within the community. There is more to students than the major they are studying and RSO provides the necessary tools and encouragement needed to thrive in campus-life and add to the repertoire for a future career.