Newsletter

Hayden Houston
Washington, UT
Outdoor Recreation in Parks and Tourism
Leadership Engagement Track

SUU Motorcycle Club

       For my project I essentially wanted to start a club on campus. The club I was starting hadn't 

been around before which made some thing difficult. What I needed to do was meet with the 

correct people to even see if my club would be viable here on campus without too many 

complications. With my project I needed help from other members as my executive group to help 

with getting things running smoothly.

       In my project I've been learning to deal with a variety of people other than just the members in 

the club. I've needed to work with risk managers, club advisors, and even needed to talk to 

strangers that I see around campus that ride around. Essentially my project falls perfectly into the 

leadership category as I start this club from scratch. Its helped build me more as a leader and 

helped me to plan and follow through with projects.

One of our most recent group rides this semester

       The inspiration for my project came from talking to a friend in my major that also rides (she's 

the VP) that was more complaining how there wasn't really an organization on campus that allowed 

riders to connect. After riding mostly alone on some pretty epic rides I realized it would be so much 

more enjoyable to have friends along to experience the beauty and fun with me. I thought I would 

ask around and see if there was a club on campus already and then join it if there was one on 

campus. After finding out there was no such club, I figured I should start one. After all, how hard 

could it be? There were plenty of other clubs on campus that arose out of a similar situation of 

filling a need that wasn't readily available on campus.

       It turns out that just starting a club out of nothing wasn't as easy as just getting a group of 

people together and riding around on motorcycles. I encountered several difficulties along the way. 

The biggest hurdle to overcome initially was putting together a risk management plan that would be

effective at reducing the risks of incidents for group rides to keep the school safe from liability and 

to keep our members from injury. The reason this was so difficult was mostly due to the variety of 

incidents we needed to plan for. Another major issue we encountered is there isn't really a training 

for being a club president or any of the other executive positions which means we had to figure 

everything out as we went along. This resulted in a lot of wasted time for us that we could have 

used to better mold our club. 

       The final major challenge we have encountered is getting people to show up to our meetings. 

A lot this issue could be traced back to us not knowing what we were doing in an executive 

capacity and bumbling around trying to figure things out. Now that we have a plan and are working 

towards some great goals, more and more people show up for every meeting.

       So far, the greatest benefit to others besides myself has been connecting others to new friends 

who share their passion for riding. With our club, we've taken a group of strangers that normally 

wouldn't really interact with each other on campus or elsewhere and have created great friendships 

across social boundaries. It will also benefit the local community as we become more engaged as a 

club in cleaning up areas and participating in local events to promote a better sense of community 

here in Cedar City.

       For myself this project has been a great benefit, and a lot of work. I've gained great leadership 

skills as well as the ability to bring together people with a common interest. I've had to overcome 

my shyness in talking to strangers in order to get my club to grow and to reach out to potential

members. This project has also benefitted me in that it has taught me a lot of patience as well as 

how much work it takes to start something like this (relatable to a small business) and the skills that 

go along with that.

Our first ever ride, Cedar Breaks National Monument

Reflective Quote:

• Its been a long, difficult road to get to where we are now, but at least we were on two wheels.