The Gaels Activities Board, or GAB, has many activities planned for spring semester, including this year’s Spring Weekend.

GAB is the main activity programming board on Iona’s campus. They have a designated budget given to them by the school, which eliminates the need to apply for funding from the SGA. The club uses this budget to fund the events that it sponsors on campus throughout the year. Two of the biggest events that GAB plans are Homecoming Weekend in the fall and Spring Weekend in the spring.

This year’s e-board consists of six members: seniors Lily Tucci, Martín Sebastia, Maria Halton, and Gabriella Cordaro hold the positions of chair, vice-chair, recruitment and retention chair and noon-time activity chair, respectively. Junior Alyssa Cordaro serves as the entertainment chair while sophomore Francisco Muñoz is the recreation chair.

Melissa Aponte, director of the Office of Student Development, serves as the advisor for the club. The official advisor is supposed to be the Assistant Director for Student Development (for Union, Media and Programming Initiatives), a position that is currently empty.

“I thought it was important for me to advise GAB because of the major programming that they do,” Aponte said. “They have so much responsibility to enhance and bring life to student development here at the college.”

Tucci said that the chair of GAB has to do some of everything, like represent the club at SGA meetings. This year, she has also taken on the roles of the public relations and diversity chairs, who had to step down from their positions. Tucci has made this consolidation of roles into a positive experience.

“It has opened my eyes and allowed me to form new connections with other groups on campus,” Tucci said.

Sebastia, a finance major, handles the budget of the club. Previously being the recreation chair, he said he felt he was more prepared to take on this larger role.

The recreation chair books the activities on campus and works with vendors that are brought to campus. Muñoz, who currently holds the position, says it has helped develop social and financial skills he otherwise would not have had.

Additionally, Gabriella Cordaro plans and runs the events that are done during activity hours, while Alyssa Cordaro organizes off-campus events.

“This past Weeks of Welcome we went to the Yankees Game, and I’m going to try to do a Broadway show next semester,” Cordaro said.

She also said she wants to bring more events onto the campus, like a mentalist and a magician.

Halton said she held the same position she has now during her sophomore year. Her responsibility as recruitment and retention chair is to interact with and keep general members coming to meetings. General members meetings are held every other week and used to gauge students’ feelings towards each event.

“I am also trying to stress the importance of allowing members to create their own events,” she said.

GAB relies heavily on its members’ input and demographics when deciding the details for each event.

“We have a lot of variation [in activities] to hit all different groups on campus, because not everyone goes to all activities,” Sebastia said.

Tucci also stresses the important role that general members play in the club.

“Getting feedback from general members at our general members meetings is huge,” Tucci said. “We have to know which days are commuter-friendly, which times are commuter friendly [and] how late people are willing to come to an event.”

When it comes to planning, GAB has already started detailing events for the end of the next semester.

Students who are interested in applying to be part of the GAB e-board must first be a general member in the club. Around the end of January and the beginning of February, the e-board will host information sessions for those interested in filling executive board positions.

After the information sessions, the current e-board will interview those interested and then decide on which students will fulfill each role. The chair and co-chair – those who act as president and vice president for the club – are selected before the rest of the new e-board is. Those wanting to fill either the chair or co-chair positions needed to have served on the board for one full academic year, and can apply at the beginning of the spring semester.

“We look for someone who is eager to participate,” Halton said. “We don’t want someone who is dreading being here.”

According to Halton, the ideal student for the GAB e-board is interested in making student life and activity on campus the best it can be, and has some idea of the level of responsibility required in being a part of the club.

“We’re in a fishbowl,” Halton said. “A lot of people are watching what we’re doing and if we were to do something wrong, it would get reported up, and we would be the ones to get in trouble, because a lot of people look up to us as the main programming board.”

For those who are interested in joining GAB, the club holds general member meetings every other Tuesday at 12 p.m.