NMU offers many clubs and organizations for students to join that suit their interests. For some, it is student government, a club sport or even an organization that falls under their major.

According to The Hub, NMU’s official community platform, there are 363 registered groups. Of those groups, 246 are student organizations that are welcome for students to join.

One student organization is the cosplaying group, Cosplayers Unite.

“Cosplayers Unite is a club based on personal interests and the shared craft of cosplaying,” said Rose Stierna, president of Cosplayers Unite and senior English writing major. “Cosplaying is a shorthand version of the term “costume playing”. While I don’t like that term very much, it is a good summary of it.”

Cosplaying is when someone creates a costume of a character from a form of media and wearing it to, in a sense, become the character, Stierna said.

“The club is for people who do and are interested in cosplaying,” Stierna said. “We organize trips to pop culture conventions, where cosplaying in the middle of a big city when it’s not Halloween is acceptable.”

Cosplayers Unite also focuses on sharing tips and advice to fellow cosplayers, creating cosplay, where to buy cosplays for those who are not so craft-savvy and above all, supporting one another.

Stierna said that everyone is welcome to join Cosplayers Unite and that anyone can cosplay despite gender, skin color, body size, skill level and experience.

“Why should we be tearing each other apart when we can create friendship from our shared interests,” Stierna said.

Due to COVID-19, Cosplayers Unite has been unable to participate in larger events and has only been holding meetings since the start of the pandemic. While the club does miss the larger events, Stierna said that the club is looking forward to the semester parties.

“We often hold small gatherings on weekends in Jamrich where we can hang out in cosplay, eat pizza, play board games, watch movies and shows we like (or like to make fun of i.e. Ghost Stories anime during our Halloween party),” Stierna said. “Anyone is welcome to parties and it is a great social activity for students just coming back out of being locked inside for the last year and a half without being too overwhelmed.”

For those interested in joining Cosplayers Unite, the club meets every Thursday at 6 p.m. in Jamrich room 1319.