Composed of a three-person executive team, the Brock Swift Society is led by Brooke Nolan as President, Jennah Khan as Vice-President and Jessica Dao as Treasurer. Both Khan and Dao are enrolled in their second year of the Concurrent Education program for Child and Youth Studies focused on primary-junior education, while Nolan is pursuing the same program with a focus on senior-intermediate education.
According to Dao, the inspiration to start a Taylor Swift-themed club began when they looked on ExperienceBU for a Taylor Swift club and noticed that none existed. This was followed by a serendipitous circumstance where the now-executives passed by the BUSU clubs office and noticed signs posted outside on how to start your own club.
“One day, we were strolling around the [BUSU] clubs office…and there were signs on how to start a club. And we were like, what if we started a Taylor Swift club?…What if we just do it?” said Dao.
As for the deeper urge to create a club that relates to Taylor Swift, Khan and Dao described it as spanning beyond just Swift’s music. The executives expressed that it comes from the desire to have more people dissecting the meaning and lyricism behind Swift’s work. Likewise, they also expressed a desire for others to take inspiration from Swift’s character as an inspirational role model.
“[Taylor Swift] inspires people to be the best versions of themselves, and to be nice,” said Khan. “…[She inspires] people to not hear what other people think,” added Dao.
When it comes to the Brock Swift Society’s first encounter with the student population at Brock, the response they received at the BUSU Club’s Fair on Sept. 5th exceeded their expectations.
“We had so many more people turn out than we expected. We thought, I don’t know, like 70 or 100 [would show up], but we had over 300 people sign up,” said Khan.
Their first event, “The Very First Night (Brock’s Version)”, happening on Sept. 21st, also sold out within the first hour of them being at the Clubs Fair. Dao and Khan mentioned that the event will feature Taylor Swift themed trivia, games and a space for members to meet each other.
“We booked a room that could hold 77 people, and that filled up within the hour,” said Khan. “Then people were asking us if they could be added,” said Dao.
At the time of writing the capacity for the event remains full, although the executives plan to change the location to accommodate more people for their first event.
For future events planned, Dao and Khan expressed that they plan on having events such as making friendship bracelets, having a Taylor Swift-themed study session and watching the Reputation Stadium Tour. Likewise, they plan on hosting a listening party for the upcoming 1989 (Taylor’s Version) re-recording coming out on Oct. 27th.
In terms of their impact and influence at Brock, when asked about how they would like the Brock Swift Society to be perceived, the executives expressed that they want to be viewed as a safe space for people with shared interests, and an open environment to bond over shared interests, such as Taylor Swift.
To keep up with the Brock Swift Society and their upcoming events, visit their ExperienceBU website and their Instagram.
