Some people spend their Saturday nights drinking at parties, but on Saturday nights at Club Soda, 5C students engage in a different kind of fun, whether it be snacking on food, making crafts or playing video games.
Club Soda, a social space that was created at the beginning of the school year, hosts social nights every Saturday from 9:00 p.m. to midnight in the Heggblade Annex at Claremont McKenna College. The club is meant to provide students who choose not to drink alcohol with a way to socialize and meet people without participating in typical party culture.
Club Soda founder Maddy McCue CM ’23 came up with the idea for Club Soda after they felt alienated by how prevalent drinking is at CMC.
“Throughout my time at CMC, I was feeling kind of frustrated with party culture because I felt like it was very centered around alcohol and wasn’t very inclusive to people who don’t like to drink,” McCue said. “So I would always find myself on a Friday or Saturday night hanging out [alone] in my room.”
McCue wanted to meet and socialize with other people who didn’t like partying on Saturday nights, so they worked with the Dean of Students Office to create a space designed to do just that.
“Every time I would talk to people, they would say, ‘Oh, there’s a bunch of people here who aren’t really into partying,’ and I would say, ‘Well, how do I meet them?’” McCue said.
Similarly, Desiree Galamgam CM ’26 started going to Club Soda social nights because she didn’t like how alcohol-centric CMC’s social scene is.
“I was really happy to find that Club Soda was a place where you can have fun, and alcohol wasn’t very synonymous with socializing. I think it’s important for any campus to emphasize that you can party and feel safe, but also you don’t have to push the drinking agenda.”
“I was really happy to find that Club Soda was a place where you can have fun, and alcohol wasn’t very synonymous with socializing,” Galamgam said. “I think it’s important for any campus to emphasize that you can party and feel safe, but also you don’t have to push the drinking agenda.”
Galamgam has met some of her close friends at the club and has become closer with people she already knew, including Stephanie Hernandez CM ’26. While Hernandez was drawn to the club because of their desire to have fun in a substance-free space, they also appreciate the club’s variety of activities.
“I know that we sometimes play a Nintendo Switch and watch Netflix, or we just chill and crochet,” Hernandez said. “You can do arts and crafts there — it’s amazing.”
Hernandez’s personal favorite Club Soda event was a crochet night that they led with Galamgam, where the duo taught their friends how to crochet.
“I like seeing how people actually took up crochet after that night,” Hernandez said. “One of our close friends, she’s making a shirt now… and we just taught her at Club Soda, so that’s pretty cool.”
Galamgam loves Club Soda for a variety of reasons — the activities and the people being at the top of that list. However, she also appreciates how inclusive the space is, which allows her to feel comfortable.
“It’s genuinely a safe space for anybody,” Galamgam said. “It can be people that do drink but just choose not to and anyone of any race, gender, sexuality, etc., can just come in and just have a good time, especially on a Saturday night, [and] escape from the pressure of typical parties,” Galamgam said.
McCue sees the club as a success so far, with 20 to 30 people attending on average every Saturday night, although they weren’t always sure that it would be.
“I was worried at first because CMC is known as a party school for a reason and that tends to be the view that people have, that everybody comes here because they like to party, so I was worried that there weren’t going to be enough people who were really interested in hanging out and doing something else,” McCue said.
In the future, McCue hopes that more people, especially from the other four undergraduate Claremont Colleges, will learn about the club and check it out. For now, though, they are just glad that they have received such a positive response.
“It’s been really well received,” McCue said. “I’ve heard feedback from people saying, ‘I’m so glad a space like this exists.’ I’m really happy with how it’s been so far. I just want others to know that it’s a space for them as well, and everybody’s always welcome.”