Buddhist Association And Finance Club Approved By SGA

Two new clubs were recently approved by the SGA: the Finance Club and the Buddhist Student Association. Started by Colgate students, these two clubs are bound to be successful on campus. The Buddhist Student Association (BSA) was started last semester by seniors Sunit Sindurakar and Justin Henry. The two seniors were interested in exploring the intellectual, spiritual, cultural and religious aspects of Buddhism. Sindurakar and Henry created the group to facilitate conversation and interest in the Buddhist religion on campus. “The group welcomes and encourages participation from all members of the Colgate community, no matter how tangential their interest to Buddhism qua religious practice,” Henry said.Last semester, the group was under the guidance of University Chaplain Nancy DeVries and Professor of Philosophy and Religion John Carter. The BSA planned events, such as a meditation session and a cookout. “There was an exciting level of participation and enthusiasm for those events and I expects an even greater turnout this academic year,” Sindurakar saidCatholicChaplain Mark Shiner is now the BSA’s adviser. With Henry and Sindurakar’s leadership, the Club is planning a monastery trip, more meditation sessions and hopefully a Buddhist New Year celebration. Sophomore Max Morgunov and Junior Matt Ogden started the Finance Club. “[We wanted to] facilitate and encourage communication and discourse among students regarding the issues pertaining to investment and finance,” Morgunov said, “and provide a resource for students who wish to pursue the fields of finance and investment practically and/or vocationally.” Upon realizing that there were no opportunities for students to learn about financial markets outside of upper-level economics classes, Ogden was motivated to start the club. Ogden and Morgunov want the club to have as large a member base as possible, including anyone who is interested in finance and not just economics majors and minors. “I wanted to lend some coherence and intercommunication to the community of students who are, in any way, interested in pursuing finance or investment,” Mogrunov said. A wider array of students will lead to broader discussion topics. Ogden and Morgunov aim to educate the group’s members in dealing with investment choices. They hope to offer their members some real-life experience in the field beyond of the classroom walls. “We wanted to show members how to make educated decisions as to finding and picking stocks and other possible types of investments,” Ogden said.After a basic introduction to investing, Ogden will show the members how to set up mock portfolios online. So that they can get some experience without having any risk. “We will then discuss what happens to these portfolios and try to determine what caused the stocks to move in a certain direction compared to what was expected,” he said.This hands-on experience will be helped by the Center for Career Services, which has expressed their interest in forming a close relationship with the Club. Ogden, Morgunov and Career Services hope to bring alumni speakers and financial institutions to campus. These groups have frequently contacted the office to communicate their interest in coming to Colgate to take part in various panels and seminars. The Finance Club also hopes to use the Colgate portal as a discussion board where conversation can continue on past specific club meeting times. These two new clubs, the Buddhist Student Association and the Finance Club, will certainly broaden the Student Activities spectrum and provide spiritual and practical resources for the student body.