History
A Short History of the Beginning of UBanime:
Written by Gregory Chu
* First Year
* Second Year
* UBanime Officer lists
1st yr (Spring 1998-1999):
Growing Pains
Much like any club in most schools, the creation
time is often the most difficult and traumatic. While the idea
of the club is no doubt considered a "necessity",
most would shy away from the creation of a club that may not
last long. For four friends, and two others soon to be added
to the daring group, only time stand in the way of creation
of UBanime.
The concept of an anime club came first to the
mind of Allison Chu and Lisa Tan. Although they are both anime
fans, the idea of sharing the joy of watching anime with others
was about as sweet as cotton candy. Once it was confirmed that
there indeed does not exist a club in UB that deals with anime,
the two gathered the necessary brains to help establish the
necessary structure for the club. Working tirelessly behind
the scenes, Allison gathered the necessary 30 members to satisfy
the requirement for the formation of the club. As Greg Chu (creator
of the newsletter)and Joanne Hwang entered the frame, the constitution
was drafted in Milliard Fillmore College by the Ellicott Complex.
While the meeting contained many disagreements, it was soon
clear that the teamwork between the four is unrivaled. As the
constitution gets signed and came to a close, the positions
for the officers were immediately established to ensure order
of the chain of command. Allison would be the first ever president
of the club, followed by Greg, Lisa chose to become the treasurer,
and Joanne became the secretary. As the group readied the submission
of the constitution, little did they know that two other students
had the same idea and was preparing to secure a piece of the
club's history.
Sung and Stella can probably be considered "otaku"s.
They were deep in the appreciation of anime and have personal
collection of many of the series that were released here and
abroad. Granted there weren't many series for collection, but
Stella has always had connections to get fansubs. Their passion
for anime led them to the formation of their constitution for
a club. As they are submitting their version, they were informed
that a group of four had already started the process and the
club is already considered established. Naturally they decided
to join the group and form the 6 person team that would forever
be considered the first group of officers for UBanime.
Unfortunately, like a good RPG, there was a
twist of fate for one of the founder. Joanne was to transfer
to another school and thus had to relinguish her position. Thus
it was crucial to determine the new positions and stablize a
club that had not yet been ratified. With an increasing need
for a artistic talent to create logos and fliers, it was determined
that Justin Cobb(original logo creator) will replace Joanne,
but not her position. Lisa was moved to secretary, Sung became
the treasurer, Justin became Internal Affairs Officer, and Stella
was External Affairs Officer. With the chain of command firmly
in place, UBanime was soon granted the charter to become the
official anime club of University at Buffalo(Fall 1998). As
Justin Tedaldi coined in the future, "The Chu dynasty"
has officially begun.
UBanime was unlike any other club in the Student
Association. UBanime was completely self- sufficient. Aside
from a sizeable TV, eveything was supplied by officers and occationally
by members. Without a way to transport equipments, much alone
obtaining some without a budget, the team sought out support
from the local dorms since they have projection TV in public
lounges. The first lounge for the general meeting was in Red
Jacket, Ellicott Complex. Later the club would move from lounge
to lounge, finally moved to the Student Union per requests from
the members and some of the officers.
2nd yr (Fall 1999-2000):
Red Tapes
It would seem that the relocation to Student
Union, the club should be smooth sailing from then on. Unfortunately,
much hurdles arised for the officers to overcome even though
the location for club meetings was secured.
At first, the club moved its meeting to Student
Union successfully. Placed in 145 Student Union, the club was
easier for members to gain access. Moreover, the club steadily
gain more exposure as the location was prime for students attention,
anime fans or not.
A/V equipment availability was great to start
the year. Student Union provided the club with a 27"+ TV,
equipped with a VCR. Later in the year, however, the TV mysteriously
disappeared. According to SU, the TV was actually stolen. About
the only thing they had was a 19"(or possibly smaller)
TV. Unable to really do anything, the club accepted its fate
and continued showing in SU145 with the small TV. Eventually,
the situation got so bad that for some reason, even the smaller
TV had a problem and the meeting was all but canceled. In fact,
as witnessed by Bob Rodehurst(Goober King), some of the officers
actually had the notion to dissolve the club completely. I being
the president at the time, was adamently against shutting down
the club, since there are more options that the club can explore
despite the circumstances.
The options like moving to Governor complex
which is equipped with projection TV is one of the more pluasible
options. Another was to utilize the classroom AV equipments,
yet that apparently will cost alot of money, and the club basically
had none. Finally, it was agreed that we will try to secure
another room in SU that is equipped with AV. Luckily, the spring
semester allowed us to secure a room on the 3rd floor of SU.
A hugh sigh of relief was felt by all. Even though the new room,
like any SU room, cannot accomidate the tradition of anime marathons(established
by the four founding members from day one) since they need to
close at night, it was decided that the club will hold its marathon
showings in Governor complex. Till this day, the marathons is
still being shown there.
Much of this year related to much of the development
of the current UBanime structure. Things like website development,
classics showings(introduced by Nate Shelley), community services
(supervised by Greg Chu), and UBcon showings(planned by Greg
Chu) were all established at this time.
Due to the end of my tenure as an officer of
UBanime club, much of my knowledge regarding the happenings
of the club in the third year is fairly inadequate. Nonetheless,
much happened in the 3rd yr(Fall 2000-2001) to the club, marked
by the winning of SISH club of the year. It is at this year
which the video library was introduced to the members, conceived
by Stephanie Lo. The website duty was placed in the hands of
Bob Rodehurst, and has flourished into a key component to the
distribution of information to all members.
Countless members and officers have contributed
to their time and effort to make this club the way it is now.
These people expect no true rewards, as the mere fact that more
people are becoming anime fans is rewarding enough. Nonetheless,
it is the intention of this work to provide a glimpse of the
difficulties that faced us all, and the triumph that came after
our hard work.
Thanks for all the people who made the club
possible and thanks to all who will make this club eternal.
Former Creator/President
Gregory Chu
Officer List
| | | | | |
|
Founders (Spring 1998) |
1998-1999 |
1999-2000 |
Fall 2000 |
Spring 2001 |
2001-2002 |
2002-2003 |
2003-2004 |
2004-2005 |
| President |
Allison Chu |
Allison Chu |
Gregory Chu |
Stella Williams |
Stella Williams |
Stella Willaims |
Jason Wesolowski |
Jason Wesolowski |
Alison Merner |
| Vice-President |
Gregory Chu |
Gregory Chu |
Nate Shelley |
David Miller Jr. |
Brian Rada |
Jason Wesolowski |
Casey Miller |
Kim Butcher |
Natalie Abdo/ Candie Syphrit |
| Treasurer |
Lisa Tang |
Sung Park |
Ken Fujiuchi |
Stephanie Lo |
Frank Tenace |
Brian Rada |
Alison Hynes |
Natalie Abdo |
Dan Kotlewski |
| Secretary |
Joanne Hwang |
Lisa Tang |
Stella Williams |
Mary Gore |
Mary Gore |
Rainee Van Natter |
Candie Syphrit |
Justin Fay |
Caleb Rood |
| Internal Affairs |
|
Justin Cobb |
Justin Tedaldi |
Brian Rada |
Denver Huffman |
Dever Huffman |
Denver Huffman |
Brent Stone |
Position Disolved |
| External Affairs |
|
Stella Williams |
George Zhao |
Bob Rodehorst |
Bob Rodehorst |
Bob Rodehorst |
Christie Syphrit |
Jason Dluga |
Jason Dluga |
| Director of Advertising |
|
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|
|
|
|
|
Christie Syphrit |
Christie Syphrit |
| Office Manager |
|
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|
Mary Gore |
Mary Gore/
Jason Dluga |
Alison Merner |
Lien Tu |
