There’s a new hangout on campus, and believe it or not, no cover will be charged to get in.

It’s called “The Gathering,” and it is the largest Internet site on the web for college students. The Gathering is a site where college students can express their thoughts, share their creativity, and even win money.

“It’s pretty much a site where college students can go and find whatever they need … sort of a jumping point for finding information on the Internet,” said Rainey Stricklin, a representative for the web site.

The Gathering is a search engine, like Yahoo or Excite, but it doesn’t waste your time with useless information, he said.

The web site also allows students from across the country to talk to each other.

“We try to make it fun. It’s like a student union for the Internet,” Stricklin said.

Created by a staff of recent college graduates, The Gathering is looking for currently-enrolled students to participate in weekly debates, polls and the general exchange of information between students nationally.

The Gathering also provides internship and scholarship opportunities, Stricklin said. The internships they offer are both paid and non-paid, and they do not require that a student relocate — interns can submit their contributions through cyberspace from any location.

The Gathering offers college students six monthly scholarships ranging from $50-$500 and is continually adding more. Entries are placed on the site on a weekly basis and are voted on by the site’s users.

Several categories are available for scholarship opportunities such as: the Editorial, the Essay, Continuing Fiction, Poetry, Caption Creator and Graphic Design Scholarships all of which provide students with the opportunity of being published on-line.

Stricklin said they are always looking for creative works that are both bold and opinionated to publish, he said, and also for information to share with a nation-wide community of students via the Internet.

The Gathering is located on-line at http://www.takeme.com.