After a brief hiatus, the Political Science Club is back up and running at Iowa State thanks to Natalia Rios Martinez, a senior in political science and LAS Senator for Student Government, and other students who decided to start the club up again.

On Oct. 26 the club held its first meeting at the student innovation center. The club’s current officers include Martinez, is serving as president, Jakob Ravega, a junior in political science, is serving as vice president, Clare Vilmont, a sophomore in public relations, serves as the club’s social media manager, outreach director and event organizer and Mason Zastrow, a senior in political science, is the treasurer. 

The club’s adviser is Karen Kedrowski who is the director of the Catt Center for Women and Politics, and is also a professor in the political science department.

Martinez wanted to start the club back up after she noticed the political science department didn’t have one. She said the focus of the club is different this time around as it focuses more on developing academic, professional and social skills for political science students rather than debating. 

“I just wanted to see more professional development opportunities for poli-sci students while also having an opportunity to grow as a community,” said Martinez.

She said students should be interested in political science because it covers more than just basic politics. The club will also cover laws, lobbying and policy writing. 

“They [students] should be interested because it affects policy, it affects everything that we do,” said Martinez, a senior majoring in political science.

“It’s important for people to be involved and I think joining this club would be a great way to do that and it offers a lot of opportunities to learn a lot about Iowa in general and their politics,” said Ravega.

Meetings typically consist of discussions and whatever the club chooses to be the focus of the day, whether it be a guest speaker, resource, or a workshop. At the most recent meeting on Nov. 16, Iowa state Sen. Herman Quirmbach (D-23) and state Rep. Ross Wilburn (D-46) were guest speakers. They talked about their experiences in politics and gave tips to people looking to hold public office in the future. 

“It’s also a good way to dip your toe into government, not everyone thinks about going into government but it’s a great sector to get into,” said Vilmont.

Martinez said that in less than a week, the club’s membership has risen from eight members to 40 members. She also states that the club is non-partisan, so it’s open to anyone and is not going to push an agenda. She said that so far the club has received support from the political science department and the Carrie Chapman Center for Women in Politics.

Meetings for the Political Science Club take place bi-weekly at 6:10 p.m. in the Student Innovation Center, room 4202. The next meeting will take place on Nov. 30.