A new club has emerged on campus with one primary goal in mind — to promote awareness of adoption.

The Adoption Club at Iowa State is a new club trying to develop a voice on campus.

Diana Baltimore, lecturer in human development and studies and adviser for the club, was the one who inspired a few students to take initiative and start the group. A few ISU students started the process during the summer and officially became a club in the fall, starting with 25 members, according to the ISU clubs website.

“[Baltimore] talks about adoption in her classes and we just became really interested in it and so we decided to make a club,” said Megan Byson, senior in child, adult and family services and president of the club. “It was just something we threw out there, but then all of the sudden we were like, ‘why don’t we do it?’ And so we did.”

The Adoption Club is in pursuit of getting the word out about adoption and to educate students on the issue.

“We really, mainly just [want to] get people to know what adoption is about and how really it’s a good thing because a lot of people have a negative stereotype on adoption,” Byson said. “So we really want to make it a positive thing and get more people involved.”

The club held its first meeting Feb. 5 by bringing in two speakers to talk about experiences of traveling to orphanages in four different countries.

“We really wanted to kick off this semester and get a lot people involved,” Byson said.

Taylor Hudson, senior in child, adult and family services, and Katie Dahm, senior in journalism and mass communication, shared their experiences of volunteering in orphanages in Indonesia, India, Peru and Tanzania.

“I think it humbled us a lot and it made us realize what’s important and a lot of emotions — sad, happy, nervous, scared. You would have those emotions in one day,” Hudson said. “It kind of fulfilled both of us because we knew something was missing in our college career.”

Lauren Perila, senior in early childhood education, attended the meeting and expressed how much she enjoyed the presentation done by Hudson and Dahm.

“I loved it. It really depicted like each site that they had gone to and it was cool to see, it was personal and it showed a lot of the kids and locations are really cool,” Perila said.

Hudson said she is excited to be involved with the Adoption Club at Iowa State.

“I think it’s awesome for kids at Iowa State University who have been adopted or for kids that are passionate about it so I think it hits all those different spectrums,” Hudson said.

Hudson said she would like to see the club hold events to raise money and awareness about adoption.

“I will like to see us kind of dive in for some causes, whether it’s for the national center for adoption, a lot of fundraising, raise awareness, we’d be surprised how often everyone is tied to adoption,” Hudson said.

Byson said she has high hopes for the club and hopes the education aspect can provide ISU students with the information they need to think about possibly becoming adoptive parents in the future.

“I really hope people will just learn that adoption is a really cool thing. And that those kids, they really need a home and that they really need someone to care for them,” Byson said. “I just hope that people will be more involved and see that adoption is a positive thing and that more people will want to be adoptive parents in the future.”