St. Thomas sophomore Chip Spadafora is in the process of starting Tommie Outdoors, a student club that will include activities such as stargazing, hiking and camping.

The club began with an idea that sparked conservation between Spadafora and his friends.

“I’m pretty big into the outdoors; we didn’t really have any vast outdoors club solely for the outdoors,” Spadafora said. “We had small niche (clubs), maybe like rock climbing.”

Spadafora saw the need for a St. Thomas club to appeal to a community of people who enjoy experiencing nature, so he and his friends decided to create the Facebook group “UnOfficial UST Outdoor Club.”

So far, the Facebook group has 58 members. Spadafora said he does not know many of the people interested in the club so far, so he is planning on hosting meeting sessions to gain more members. The page is only open to classes of 2020 and 2021, and he and his friends plan to reach out to upperclassmen, Spadafora said.

Many students posted their own outdoor activity ideas in the Facebook group.

“People were throwing out ideas for some cool activities we could do,” Spadafora said. “The goal of this club was to be an outdoor club …(that was) member-run.”

Tommie Outdoors is currently in the registration process with the university. Spadafora said the club was still in line behind a few others, but he hopes to have it verified by the end of the semester. In the meantime, he and his friends have been tossing around ideas for the club’s mission statement.

“The club aims to unite University of St. Thomas students together around a shared love of nature, faith and the common good,” Spadafora read from his unofficial mission statement. “The main focus of this club is to hold events that connect students with each other and nature.”

While there isn’t a set plan on how Spadafora plans on incorporating faith into the club, it is something he and his friends want to include.

“We are trying to appeal to all different faiths,” Spadafora said, “We thought about doing some meditation outdoors; that could be a good thing to learn about spirituality.”

While the logistics of the club are still up in the air, its core values are solid.

“We thought we could maybe do one day of service, cleaning up around the river or something,”
Spadafora said, “because that would be caring for Mother Nature.”

Spadafora explained that preserving nature is an important part of enjoying it.

“A big focus of mine is promoting taking care of the Earth and promoting how nature can help us learn to de-stress or relax and enjoy what we have,” Spadafora said.

MacKenzie Bailey can be reached at bail7757@stthomas.edu.