Erica Chavez is the vice president of the
Anthropology Club.

What is the Anthropology Club?
A club that focuses on the anthropology department of study, which is the study of mankind.

Why is the club important to EC?
The Anthropology Club is important because it helps people with the same hobbies and the same interests get together that you’re not going to meet in your normal social circle.

What’s an interesting experience you’ve had while in the club?
We go to the zoo periodically and we saw the gorillas at the Gorilla Habitat.and the Silverback male was at the glass, and he reared up and he did the dominant thing where he beat his chest and I was pretty freaked out by it, and I lunged at the ground to get away. It was funny.

What are the club’s goals?
To give everybody a broader sense of what anthropology is and what it can entail.

Are there any upcoming events that involve the Anthropology Club?
The big one would be the Student Research Symposium on May 15. We do hikes. We go the L.A. Zoo. We want to go camping at Joshua Tree. We’d like to go the Gibbon Center. It’s like a mini zoo of Gibbons, which are apes. We go the Native American events, like the Sweat Lodge and the Powwow. We do a lot of local things like going to festivals, such as the festival of kites.

What is the Student Research Symposium?
It’s a chance for students who have their own to ideas to research something that interests them and present it to their peers. EC is the only community college that has a Student Research Symposium. It’s a great opportunity to get a new experience. The kicker is that you can put it on your transcript and you can get cash prizes.

What is a general club meeting like?
Our president speaks. You get sarcastic replies from some of the same members. We joke around, and we get things done. We watch video clips and we try to have a discussion on it. Currently we’re watching a video called the Paradox of Choice.

When does the club meet?
We meet every Thursday from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. in the Arts and Behavioral Science Building, Room 334. We also have open officer meetings in the same room from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. every Tuesday.

What do you think of the anthropology department at EC?
I love it. The professors are great. They’re there to help and very open and are fun to joke with and they know their stuff.

-Philip Zymet