The path to friendship is paved with waffles, board games and campus tours

Arya Ebadi was having a tough time making friends during his first year at McMaster. 

“I was pretty shy and didn’t know how to meet people,” says Arya. “I felt really alone.” It didn’t help that he lived in residence without a roommate.  

He routinely skipped out on residence and university events, assuming everyone there would already know each other. Yet he finally worked up the courage to go to a bonfire. That’s where Arya met lots of other first years and realized he wasn’t alone. “We bonded over smores and became friends.” Showing up for that first event made it easier to mix and mingle at the next events. 

Sona Levonyan’s not shy and has no trouble mixing and mingling – they easily made lots of friends during their first year at McMaster. “I’ve yet to have anyone shoot down a conversation that I’ve started.” The problem was none of their friends were going into chemistry in their second year. 

Sona was now a second-year chemistry student in need of new friends within their program. They were studying for a midterm in a room at the Arthur Bourns Building where students and Prof G – assistant professor Jim Ghoshdastidar – were serving up stacks of waffles. They invited Sona to join them. “That’s how I discovered ChemClub.” 

Sona’s been involved ever since, along with Arya. Now in their third year, Arya’s the ChemClub assistant coordinator and Sona is a ChemClub mentor. Arya’s earning a course credit while Sona’s getting paid along with nine other upper-year mentors thanks to a grant from the McMaster Okanagan Office of Health & Well-being. Arya helps plan and organize events while Sona helps run them. Mentors also kickstart conversations, but there’s no need to carry conversations among ChemClub regulars – they start talking the moment they sit down, picking up where they left off the previous week. 

Arya and Sona are also involved in MUSCS – the McMaster Undergraduate Society for the Chemical Sciences. Sona’s co-president while Arya’s on the executive committee. The society, which runs social and academic events, gives the duo another way to take on a leadership role in fostering a sense of community among students, faculty and staff within the department.  

Jim launched ChemClub during his first year at McMaster, knowing there were lots of students like Arya and Sona who longed to belong. The club’s meant to be nothing but fun and games – there are no mini-lectures, PowerPoint presentations or forced fun icebreakers. Along with the midterm waffle destressers, students play trivia, video and board games and head out together for campus tours of the nuclear reactor, museum and planetarium. 

After meeting weekly in year one, ChemClub’s expanded to Tuesdays and Fridays this year. Jim says the 10 upper year students working as mentors get as much out of ChemClub as the first-year chemistry students. Arya, Sona and the other mentors have been busy – more than 300 students showed up in the first month. Some students even brought friends from other programs and Faculties – no one gets turned away at the door. It’s waffles and Mario Kart for all. 

Arya and Sona agree other programs across McMaster could, and should, introduce weekly social clubs for first-year students. It’s an easy, sure-fire fix for the loneliness epidemic. But they say there’s just one problem – Prof G is one-of-a-kind. 

“Prof G has a real love for ChemClub,” says Arya. “He’s there every week and always goes out of his way to make sure everyone feels welcome.” 

Jim relates to students on a whole other level, says Sona. “I’m not sure you can find another prof at Mac who’s this engaged when it comes to bringing students together and building community.”