The 25-member ISU Juggling Club juggles everything from devil sticks to yo-yos to knives and torches.

“I’ve seen a 70-year-old man learn to juggle, and I’ve seen kids who are no more than 10 years old juggle five clubs by themselves, which is hard even for experienced jugglers,” said Ehren Whigham, sophomore in health and human performance.

Whigham credits the ISU Juggling Club for helping him adjust to college.

“I got bored sitting around having nothing to do, and I’d heard of the juggling club before, and I could kind of juggle, so I decided to give it a shot,” Whigham said. “Now I’m the treasurer of the club and the whole experience has been a blast.”

One of the club’s main activities is teaching new members how to juggle. The experienced members teach the new members how to juggle one object at a time. The experienced members keep the new ones motivated and make sure they’re on the right track.

“At practice advanced jugglers juggle in three-, four- and even five-man patterns,” said Aaron Sanders, freshman in pre-business.

Whigham credits ISU alumnus Jesse Shumaker for getting him started.

“Jesse’s effort and enthusiasm about juggling is what got me and a lot of the people in the club today excited about juggling,” Whigham said.

The juggling club has been Whigham’s claim to fame. During the summer of 2003, Ehren and his twin brother Erick were on television news in Omaha, Neb., and Des Moines passing knives and torches back and forth. Ehren was the headline entertainer in an annual celebration in his hometown of Red Oak called “Junction Days.”

The juggling club also travels to juggling festivals all over the Midwest. At festivals, the club learns a wide range of things ranging from new passing patterns to how to use different props.

“Jugglers from all over the country come to show off their talents and teach less-experienced people how to do their tricks,” Whigham said.

One such festival is Mad Fest in Madison, Wis. Mad Fest will take place Jan. 18-21. The club will also have members going to Mondo, a juggling festival in Minneapolis from Feb. 6-8.