Many Student Organizations have been on the rise this semester. One existing organization which has been revamping its presence is LionCom, a group centered around the Department of Communications. The organization was started in 2013, by Dr. Stephanie Montgomery, a Senior Lecturer at UNA, and its purpose is to help build community for Communications Studies students.

One of the driving forces behind the growth of LionCom is Ms. Anna Grace Rye, President of the organization. A Senior, majoring in Communications Studies, Rye has been a member of LionCom for the past three years.

“It’s basically a place to make connections with people in your program, as well as building a network of alumni.” Rye said. She continued, “So when you graduate, you can have those resources that you can go to. It’s also just a place to draw energy from, to get creative with and gain ideas from.”

Regarding the rekindled efforts to grow the organization, Rye said, “We’re taking a very different approach to it this year, to try and up the membership number that we have currently. We’re constructing it into more of a ‘social-esque’ kind of group to try to take the next couple of years to really build a solid foundation of members.”

“It really has ebbed and flowed throughout the years. In the beginning stages, one of the things they were most known for was their speech contest. It would be a university-wide thing, a lot of people would come and participate. It was a really fun thing[…]Really, once covid hit, it really just broke apart what LionCom was.” Rye said about the program’s history. “I think it’s allowed us to rebuild the foundation in a good way.”

Rye said this about LionCom’s recent growth: “The members we had really just wanted to come up with ideas to make it grow. I took it upon myself to deconstruct it, and I wanted to look at, ‘How can students gain the most from this organization.’ So I took it as: Students want community, students want networking, students want–honestly, a lot of the foundation where it came from.” She continued, “It’s grown; it’s by no means a huge, substantial growth, but we have definitely gained members, which is great.”

Rye expressed excitement and hope for LionCom’s future, saying, “I think those that have been members in the past and are still members now are very eager to plug into it, help it grow and see it flourish.”