All-Campus Programming and Outreach
With all of the various functions and activities that took place during the school year, whether hosted by the administration or student groups, Simmons students had a lot of social and community events to choose from. For the first 20 years or so, students joined clubs that were of interest to them, and each of those organizations worked independently to plan, advertise, and host social events for their members.
Poster Association members, c. 1932
In the 1930s, as more student groups were formed, a different type of organization emerged – all-campus programming. This began with the Poster Association in 1932, which was established to supply the college with posters for the various functions and activities that took place during the school year. Its members received honorary appointments from faculty members who knew of students’ natural abilities.
The Poster Association advertised the work of many busy committees which had no art staff of their own, designing posters for club meetings, parties, and lectures, charging fees to their “clients” which members received as payment for each poster.
Assembly Committee members, c. 1938
The Association also held an annual contest at the end of each school year, in which prizes were awarded to the students who designed the most attractive posters.
In the early 1940s, the Poster Association became known as the Poster Committee and its mission included “cheering up” the college corridors.
Other organizations established in the 1930s and early 1940s were the Social Activities Committee (1935), the Assembly Committee (1937), and the Outing Club (1940).
Outing Club members preparing
for a ski trip, c. 1941
The Social Activities Committee worked to improve social life on campus and in the freshman dormitories by hosting informal Wednesday night dinners and house dances, while the Assembly Committee was made up of seniors who helped to fill in seats during assemblies and “reflect the student opinion on the assemblies.”
The Outing Club, as the name suggests, organized off-campus outdoor activities for students to participate in, including local hikes, ski trips, horseback riding, swimming, and cycling.
Toward the end of the century, new iterations of these programming organizations formed, such as the Activities Planning Board (APB) in the 1980s (replaced by the Campus Activities Board (CAB) in 1996) and the National Association for Campus Activities (founded 1993).
Activities Programming Board, c. 1986
While the names of these organizations varied over the years, from the 1930s on some form of an activities committee existed at Simmons to provide a host of social activities for students to participate in on campus.
Along the same vein as all-campus programming, outreach organizations were also popular at Simmons throughout the first 100 years. One of the first to be created was the Social Relations Committee in 1955, which saw students going to hospitals, schools, settlement houses, and institutions to do volunteer work.
By the early 1990s, other student and community outreach organizations were well-established, such as the Student Alumnae Association, Simmons Community Outreach, and the Commuter Organization.