Entomology senior Marguerite Bolt, president of the club, said it was recently created to meet the needs of not only entomology students, but any students interested in insects. She said it’s a great way to collect insects, meet new people and learn more about entomology in general.

Entomology PhD student Charles Coslor said it’s important to have a club where everyone can share in their enjoyment of entomology. He also said the MSU Bug Club aims to be a haven for undergraduates in particular, as there hasn’t been an undergraduate club within the entomology department for very long.

“The department as a whole is looking for ways to encourage undergraduate, both enrollment and participation in the department, so this was a third party idea to make the department more accessible,” he said.

Coslor said he recently became president of GUESS, Graduate and Undergraduate Entomology Student Society, and said he saw a need for an undergraduate program because the club was very graduate-focused.

Bolt said the club meets every Tuesday and has gone on several collecting trips.

“We had a cookout last weekend, which involved collecting and making food and just getting to know each other, sort of building relationships,” she said.

Entomology sophomore Tobias Marks said collecting involves going out in nature to find, collect, preserve and identify different insect specimens.

Collecting can be done in the woods or even in water.

Marks said any students interested in nature or bugs should definitely check out the MSU Bug Club.

“A lot of times we have people switch over to entomology later on in their college careers because they didn’t really know it existed as a major and so we’re hoping this is one avenue people can have to discover entomology as a career option," he said. 

This summer, the Bug Club plans on meeting every other week and going on collecting trips. The club is also hoping to organize a couple camping trips as well.