On Sept. 9, NYU Abu Dhabi held the fall semester’s Student Interest Group Fair, at which more than 60 SIGs were represented. Among these, there were four SIGs new to the NYUAD community: Citizens Abroad at NYUAD, MENtorship at NYUAD, Mountain Madness and On Your Feet at NYU Abu Dhabi. The Gazelle sat down with the leaders of each of these SIGs to understand what they do and what they are about.

Citizens Abroad at NYUAD focuses on policy, politics and public service. The SIG plans to host discussions about important political events in order to keep students aware of and engaged in world politics.

“[Discussions could be] in regards to immigration policy, climate change policy, prison reform or just other big political events,” said Jacob Chagnon, Class of 2019, who serves as the Treasurer for Citizens Abroad at NYUAD.

“We’ll be … connecting students to resources they need to get themselves more involved and aware back home in their own constituencies and for later jobs and internships,” he added.

Chagnon sees the SIG as a way to formalize some of the discussions that already happen on campus, as well as a means to build awareness of policy beyond everyday conversations and individual research.

“I hope people get a better understanding of whatever topic they discuss, get new perspectives from other students and learn about new problems in a policy and politics world that they didn’t even know existed,” said Chagnon. The SIG will be hosting biweekly meetings on Tuesdays from 7:30 p.m.to 8:30 p.m. and will announce the dates on their OrgSync page. Meetings are open to all students and it is possible to get engaged through discussions and presentations, or just through passive listening.

MENtorship at NYUAD is an analogous organization to the Women’s Leadership Network, which organizes the Women’s Mentorship program. The Women’s Mentorship program started in 2013 as a female-only program, helping students find off-campus mentors for professional guidance and development. MENtorship at NYUAD sees itself as a provider of the same opportunities, but for male students.

“Due to some bureaucracy and logistical complications, we weren’t able to merge to the same SIG at this point of the year, but we hope that at the end of the year, we’re going to merge,” said Gabriel Garcia, Class of 2020, the President of MENtorship at NYUAD, in regards to the SIG’s relationship to the Women’s Mentorship Program.

“Our policy is that if we get a female student interested in a mentor, we refer them to our sister organization [Women’s Mentorship program] and they have the same policy because we are in very tight cooperation.”

The SIG is currently working on recruiting mentors, who will eventually be matched with mentees from the NYUAD student body. MENtorship is also arranging different workshops.

“We’re going to be hosting several workshops along with some departments in the university in order to improve [students’ professional] lives. We call it Professional Grooming,” said Garcia. “Some workshops on CVs, how to network, online resources. Actually, the SIG workshops are going to be announced next month. We’re still working on the details, ” he explained. MENtorship at NYUAD opened their application for students to become mentees just before the SIG fair, and it is still open. The application can be found here.

Mountain Madness is a SIG focusing on climbing. Its goal is to give students institutional support for climbing and to arrange opportunities for students to leave campus to climb. The SIG has paired up with Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi, as their facilities are regarded as the best facilities for climbing in Abu Dhabi.

“We [will] bring Paris-Sorbonne students here and we [will] go climbing at Sorbonne with their students,” said Liam Meier, Class of 2019 and the President of Mountain Madness. “We’re hoping for biweekly trips to Paris-Sorbonne,” he added.

The SIG is also hoping to arrange a few outdoor climbing trips this semester, although the organization of such trips is more uncertain than the Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi partnership; it requires funding and entails working out liability issues. In the best case scenario, Meier hopes for the SIG to be able to arrange two trips in the UAE and one in Oman this semester.

Mountain Madness is also applying to host the Reel Rock Tour, high energy screenings of climbing and adventure films to a live audience, in Abu Dhabi.

Everyone interested in climbing, regardless of experience, is welcome to join the SIG.

“Climbing is … a non-traditional sport but a lot of people join it later in life, and college is the perfect time to begin climbing because it’s something you can do for the rest of your life,” said Meier. “The best way [to get engaged in the SIG] is to reach out to me via my email or to just come to any of the open climbs [Monday and Thursday afternoons] and start talking to people and we’ll make sure that you can climb as much as physically possible here in Abu Dhabi,” he concluded.

On Your Feet at NYU Abu Dhabi is a running SIG inspired by the Back on My Feet organization based in New York, a program in which people volunteer to run with individuals checked into a rehabilitation center. Michael Rosenthal and Nadine Hany, both Class of 2019, volunteered in the program while doing a semester abroad at NYU New York and as they returned to Abu Dhabi, they felt the need for a social running program.

“The SIG is about providing people with a running community and, honestly, the community comes first before running fast,” said Rosenthal, who is the President of On Your Feet at NYU Abu Dhabi. “We run for 40 minutes [on weekdays] – it’s a 15 minute warm-up, name and a question to get to know the people you’re running with a little bit better, and the idea is that while you’re running you’re having conversations with the people alongside you every time. And nobody runs alone,” he explained.

The SIG runs from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. every Monday and Wednesday as well as holds longer runs on Saturdays, timing to be announced on the NYUAD Student Life Facebook page. Everyone is welcome, regardless of current shape, as the SIG also aims to stimulate healthy habits like waking up early and conversing.

On Your Feet at NYU Abu Dhabi will give its members the opportunity to participate in different races in and around Abu Dhabi.

“As far as races, we’re going to have the Pink Run at Zayed Sports City in October, there’s a 5k and a 10k race … and then in November we have the Abu Dhabi Striders’ half-marathon and 10K,” said Rosenthal, adding that the SIG is also planning a run on the Corniche.

The SIG also seeks to arrange a few races around campus, but they are yet to be planned. Rosenthal mentioned a possibility of adding a fun twist to the races, like adding a kiddie pool.