For the first time, of the 29 campus clubs at GCC, four have earned a Most Outstanding Club Award (MOCA) nomination for the positive impact they have had on students and campus life.

The Associated Student-nominated clubs are: Alpha Gamma Sigma (AGS), the Association of Latin American Students (ALAS), the Armenian Students Association (ASA), and the United Womyn’s Council (UWC).

After the nominees were announced, the clubs gave presentations before the Inter-Organizational Committee meeting on April 26.

After the presentations, the UWC withdrew its name because members didn’t want to compete with the ASA and ALAS, both of which had helped them with events during Women’s History Month.

Later, the Persian club added itself to the nominee list. Since the award is in its early stages and the by-laws are yet to be incorporated into the constitution, any club can officially nominate themselves even if it has not been nominated by the AS.

Each semester a club will have the chance to earn the MOCA based on its presence at IOC meetings, number of activities, participation with other campus clubs, and the quality of events it has conducted throughout the semester.

The MOCA was launched by the Campus Organizations Committee, largely through the efforts of Georges Mikhael, senator of campus organizations. He felt that clubs should be rewarded for their efforts during the semester.

“The award tells them that they did an excellent job,” said Mikhael. “It is also a motive for the clubs to work harder next semester so that we can have more clubs and events.” He said that he is trying to get more people involved in clubs to raise student participation in campus events.

In addition, Mikhael believes that growth in club participation will give club members the opportunity to voice their opinions to the AS through the IOC.

The expansion of AS is another motive of MOCA, according to Mikhael. “This semester we have four or five people running for positions in AS and the way they were introduced to AS was through IOC meetings and through their clubs,” he said.

MOCA winners will be announced May 23 in the reception hall next to the conference room in the J. W. Smith Student Center. The winning club will be presented with a certificate along with a plaque that will hang in the student center. The plaque has been designed to have the names of 54 winning clubs engraved on it for the number of semesters that will lead up to the 100th anniversary of the GCC in 2027.