Jameson Filston, Campus Carrier Arts & Living Editor
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| Kendall Aronson | CAMPUS CARRIER |
| Ron Taylor (left) shows Timothy Wooley, Any Sphar and Karina Rangel how to make brochet balls during an origami meeting. The club meets in McAllister room 103 every Thursday. |
Berry’s origami club is meeting again for the first time in 10 years. The student interest group, which had its first meeting on August 23, allows students to learn a unique skill in a casual setting.
Ron Taylor, professor of math and computer sciences, has begun hosting club meetings in addition to a class on mathematics and origami that he has taught for two years now. Taylor was inspired to teach the class after he realized the strong connections between math and origami. The class was initially for math majors and minors, but Taylor offered the class for foundations credit last spring.
Sophomore Paul Vanwingerdon, a creative writing major, was in Taylor’s origami class last semester and is attending the club. Vanwingerdon said he heard about the meetings from a friend and wanted to continue learning about origami.
“It’s just as fun as it was in the class,” Vanwingerdon said. “Origami makes me feel calm and happy.”
One of the original founders of the club is Lindsey Davis, associate professor of chemistry. She started the club with her then boyfriend, now husband, during their senior year. They chose Taylor as their advisor and started folding. However, the club did not have a big following and died out soon after they graduated in 2005.
Davis became interested in origami from a young age through her mother, a math teacher. Davis said that she, her boyfriend and her mom would hang out and fold paper together. This bonding exercise continues today, and Davis even has a paper flower from her husband.
“It was just something we did for fun,” Davis said. “It’s kind of nerdy I guess.”
The origami club is led by club president sophomore Kendall Aronson and vice president sophomore Andy Sphar. The origami club is not currently considered a club but rather a student interest group. Whether or not they fully revive the club will be up to the students.
The student interest group is currently being held on Thursday afternoons at alternating times so that as many people as possible can attend. The meeting are on Thursdays in part so that Davis can attend. In the past, she could never go to attend the origami classes, but now she can be involved in the club.
Davis said that while the club is not fully resurrected yet, it has potential. She said that the club is already bigger than the original and has a stronger foundation because of Taylor’s class, and that it will hold interest for all types of people.
“It’s a really cool way to get students interested in math.” Davis said, “It’s really therapeutic.”
Taylor is confident that the club will grow by word of mouth. He also hopes to offer another class in the spring. He said that he finds origami to be artistic and meditative, and he wants the club to be the same.
“It’s just a place for people to get together and fold paper” said Taylor.