Club-Sponsored Events

In addition to participation in the college and Student Body sponsored events listed in this menu, every club (campus society) is responsible for planning, organizing, and implementing multiple campus-wide events and service projects each semester. These are all judged as part of The Spirit Award. In addition, campus clubs plan outings, and events for their own members to bond and find a place of belonging.

Block Party

Block Party is a college family picnic which takes place the Friday of the second full week of each fall semester. The picnic is followed by a campus club parade, games, and entertainment.

Rush Night

Rush Night happens the Friday of the third full week of each fall semester. Four men’s clubs (Apha Chi Omega Society, John Bunyan Society, Pi Gamma Chi Society, and the William Jennings Bryan Society), four women’s clubs (Christina Rossetti Society, Elizabeth Barrett Browning Society, Louisa Mae Alcott Society, and the Charlotte Bronte Society), and the Commuter Council have competed since the beginning of the semester for members. The night is filled with video comedies created by the clubs who are making one last attempt to convince new students to join their organization. The event ends in the gym when new students are placed at mid-court and given two minutes to “rush” to their chosen club. Every student is expected to join one of the clubs to which they will be a member while they attend Welch College. These clubs help give each person a sense of social place, purpose and connectedness to our campus.

Blood Drives

Two or three times each year our faculty, staff, and student body participate in on-campus blood drives. The Red Cross sends a mobile team on-site for these events. Welch College has the reputation in Nashville as one of the top per capita giving college campuses.

Days of Prayer

One unique characteristic of Welch College is an administration, faculty, staff, and student body that sets aside other activities one day each semester to pray. While we turn our hearts toward God more than once a semester, we do enjoy the Day of Prayer as a time to concentrate on the Lord’s blessings and ask for His intervention in our lives.

Project Pumpkin

Project Pumpkin takes place October 31 each year, unless the day is a Sunday. As an outreach to the community, the student body hosts a mini-carnival as a festival alternative for any children who may want to attend. Campus clubs operate the booths. Hundreds of local church youth and neighborhood children and adults typically attend.

See You at the Pole

See You at the Pole (SYATP) is an annual gathering of Christian students of all ages at a flagpole in front of their local school for prayer, scripture-reading, and hymn-singing during the early morning before school starts. This event occurs every fourth Wednesday of September.

Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature (TISL)

Welch College supports the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature (TISL) by sending delegates from the Student Council to their annual deliberative sessions on the legislative floor of the state capital. Our representative won the “Best Senator” award in the fall of 2011.

Leadership Training

Resident assistants, Student Council members, student mentors, and SpirituaLife leaders come a week early to fall semester for a time of intensive training. They also have a chance for hands-on application of these servant-leader skills as they assist new students during Freshman Orientation, the week before college starts. Brush-up training sessions then continue throughout the year.

Super Bowl of Caring

Each year, prior to the Super Bowl, our campus clubs compete to see who can collect the most cans of food. In cooperation with the Super Bowl of Caring organization, they are then donated to Second Harvest to be distributed to needy families in our community.

Welch Film Festival

Welch Film Festival is an annual event that was started in 2008 as a means of encouraging the development and appreciation of videography as an art form and ministry tool. The festival is open to entries from church youth groups, alumni, and members of the Welch College family. Awards are given for Best Picture, Best Performance, Best in Technical Merit, and other categories at the judges' discretion. Click on the festival name above for more details.

Student Revivals

Typically, the Student Council will plan events such as student-led revival services, periods of prayer and fasting, or concerts of prayer to urge each other toward greater commitment to God’s leading and obedience to His Word.

Junior/Senior Banquet

Each year the junior class organizes a formal banquet and entertainment to honor the Senior class. There is a charge to attend.

Memorial Auditorium

Memorial Auditorium houses most Chapels, performances, and conferences on campus listed in this menu. It is at the hub of campus and is connected to the Student Center.

Common Grounds Coffee House

Common Grounds is a place for students to purchase coffee, sodas, snack items, and Welch College merchandise. It is also a place to study, laugh, play games, connect to the Internet, watch TV, or just enjoy down-time between classes.

Student Center

The Student Center houses student mailboxes and the mailroom, the Common Grounds Coffee House, a game room, a TV room, computer terminals, and the Student Lounge. It also connects directly to Memorial Auditorium.

Picirilli Activity Center

Home of the Flames athletic department, the Picirilli Activity Center houses a full-size basketball/volleyball court with seating for 500, as well as a classroom, therapy room, and a full array of weight equipment and treadmills in the workout area downstairs.

Miniature Frisbee Golf Course

Located in the garden behind Welch Library, the miniature Frisbee golf course offers a causal nine-hole course that can be completed in 30 to 45 minutes. Score cards with instructions and pencils are available at the first hole. Frisbees can be found in the targets.

Christian Service

Welch College deliberately intends to prepare all students for leadership in Christian service as well as for life in general. The college conceives its mission to include the training of every student for Christian service, whether for a professional ministry or as laity (Ephesians. 4:12). Essential to that purpose is a weekly Christian Service requirement for students in areas such as nursing home visitation, conversation partners, preaching, teaching a Sunday School class, and visiting the Rescue Missions.

Preaching Trips

The Christian Service Department arranges five or six preaching trips a year. Advance planning with local Free Will Baptist conferences in nearby states allows student and faculty teams the opportunity to preach, blanketing several churches on a given weekend. Scores of churches are ministered to by Welch College in this way every year.

Missions Trips

The Christian Service Department and Missions Program organize at least one missions trip each year, alternating between stateside and overseas assignments. An intense application process and training program refines team members to have an effective impact for the sake of Christ to all on the receiving end of the efforts of these teams. None have walked away as the same person after experiencing these team efforts. Many have committed themselves to God’s calling overseas as a result of these trips.

Disaster Relief

Often in the face of natural disasters or emergencies, our college family has formed relief teams to answer requests for assistance as happened with Hurricane Katrina. Teams have been known to give up fall or spring breaks to help rebuild broken homes and hearts.

Local Charities

Welch College is known in Nashville for the thousands of hours of volunteer service given back to the community every year. Local charities call on our students to step in and help them meet the challenges they are facing. In addition, our students often do not wait to be asked. Campus club events and student body drives are frequently organized to serve charitable organizations in Middle Tennessee.

Welch College contracts its meals in the cafeteria to Pioneer College Caterers. Consult the college catalog for meal plan information for dorm and commuter students. Click on their name above to visit their website.

Job Bank

Welch College students have an outstanding reputation in Nashville for their honest and hardworking approach to their jobs. For that reason, several businesses and individuals regularly contact the college to post work opportunities. Students with a college email account can click here to access that information.

Christian Counseling Network

Welch College offers a referral service to students and their families needing Christian, church-based counseling. The counselors are credentialed professionals of integrity, personally committed to helping students at Welch College. Contact the office of Student Services with any inquiries. The cost of up to six sessions is covered by the college. Some common reasons for counseling are: grief, depression, stress, loneliness, relationships, worry. Contact or to enroll. Confidentiality will be strictly observed, within the legal guidelines set forth in FERPA.

Student Council

The Student Council iconsists of the Student Body officers, class presidents, the Commuter Council president, social club presidents, and the president of the Global Missions Fellowship.

Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature (TISL)

Welch College supports the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature (TISL) by sending delegates from the student council to their annual deliberative sessions on the legislative floor of the state capital. Our representative won the “Best Senator” award in the fall of 2011.

Social Clubs

Each traditional student joins a society club (see Rush Night in this menu). Societies are an integral part of college life, providing an opportunity to form lasting friendships and a time for fun and relaxation in an otherwise busy lifestyle. They have as their purpose the development of leadership, scholarship, cultural refinement, and growth in Christian grace. There are also opportunities in these clubs for intramural competition in various sports, to develop athletic ability and to provide an outlet for energy and enthusiasm. The Spirit Award is presented annually to the men’s and women’s society that best meets the various criteria listed above.

Global Missions Fellowship

The Global Missions Fellowship is a student organization at Welch College that is committed to helping students find their role in global evangelization. It is composed of members who are seeking to serve God either in a cross-cultural capacity or by praying and sending others to cross-cultural fields. GMF sponsors Prayer Band daily to develop a praying interest and knowledge of worldwide missions.

The College sponsors intercollegiate basketball for men and women, volleyball for women, and golf and cross-country for men and women. College teams are known as the Flames.

Intramural sports are provided between society clubs. These include, but are not limited to, basketball and volleyball. Most sporting events take place in the Picirilli Activity Center, which includes basketball and volleyball courts, exercise rooms and equipment, a classroom, and athletic training facilities.

Welch College urges every student to register to vote and practice his or her right to vote in local, state, and national elections. Click here to find online information about how to register to vote.