By Johny Rodriguez
“It started as a club of people who came together and had the same interests in Disney, cartoon and animation,” says Christina Harris, Vice President of the Disney Fanime Club at Cuyahoga Community College.
“It’s a collective group of students who really like Disney stuff, and it really ranges in a variety of topics,” Sera Uptergrove, President of Disney Fanime Club, says. “We come together every week to catch up, have some snacks and really just check in with each other.”
“They support each other,” says Anjeanette Csepi, the club advisor. “They can talk about school and other things. It’s a friendly open gathering.”
The Disney Fanime Club was created in 2015 on the grounds of a similar interest and way to socialize and has expanded into a safe-haven for those who are die-hard fans of the genre to those shy and maybe suffer from social angst accepted to an eclectic circle where the niche is the norm.
“We kind of debate on what is and what isn’t Disney, like how they joined with Lucas films and the same with Marvel,” says Uptergrove, again expanding on the vast interest and fandom of the club,
“So, it’s really fun to pitch in your ideas with topics like that.” Bringing up the topic of fan theories, Uptergrove says, “It’s really interesting, some things I haven’t heard before and some are very common Disney conspiracy theories. It’s always fun because there’s always something that’s really out there that you wouldn’t think of, I love it. That stuff is always welcome.”
“The main focus of the Disney club is that we just want to be there for each other,” says Uptergrove, segueing into things that the club does to help in terms of charity and donating, ” We just kind of umbrella under the Disney theme because it’s fun and helps people smile.”
“The Disney Fanime Club bake earnings go to causes that are important to the members. Last semester our whole deal was to help fight the opioid crisis in Northeast Ohio and that money went to local rehab facility for youth, and the year before that money went to help for drought in Kenya” , says Uptergrove. This semester the club is collecting for sick and hospitalized children under the clever title ‘Smiles with Style’ with intent to boost morale, esteem and positive mind-sets at the Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital.
They look for new and unused items, for the safety of the children, things like silly glasses, fun hats, sticker tattoos, capes, masks, hair brushes, etc. They also have a bake sale coming up March 8th. They are setting up a movie day towards the end of the semester before finals to help relieve some stress and are in the works of trying to set up a field trip Playhouse Square to see a Disney oriented show. Meetings are everyThursday 1:30-2:30 in the B-Pod on West campus.
Anjeanette Csepi (Club Advisor)– Email: Anjeanette.Csepi@tri-c.edu
Phone#: 216-987-0283
