“Organization of the Year”

The Popenoe Entomology Club won K-State “Organization of the Year” in Spring 2022! Below is an excerpt from our nomination packet…

The Popenoe Entomology Club recently celebrated our centennial year at Kansas State University. Founded in 1921, the club provides a space for entomology enthusiasts to gather and celebrate insects and their relatives. The club engages in numerous campus and community outreach education events highlighting insect and arthropod diversity. Our members meet multiple times a month for social gatherings, professional development activities, and insect collection and curation events for teaching purposes. This past year the club has stepped out of the shadow of the pandemic to bring interactive outreach events back to the campus and larger community. Examples include tabling at the campus Activities Carnival, Junior Wildcats exhibit, school visits, and Outdoor Kansas Kid’s Day. We’ve launched several initiatives to give back to our student members and campus, including raising funds to restore historical entomology works housed in the library, modernizing our finances by launching a digital storefront and club foundation account, connecting students and faculty with research opportunities within our department, and engaging our community through social media (e.g., student highlights, new website, video production). The club has held numerous professional development workshops, including mock interviews with real professionals, insect curation for public education, and developing outreach materials for stakeholders. Our club has had an excellent track record of fulfilling our mission to engage our members and the community through our passion for insects and insect relatives.