Club Insecta, a budding RSO, reimagines nature walks and uncovers the ecosystem’s most overlooked critters and insects, while also providing a platform to showcase research and open discussion on the world of insects.
Since starting in 2024, Insecta has welcomed members from all majors. The RSO meets frequently during the warmer months for nature walks in areas like Busey Woods and the University of Illinois Arboretum to observe insects like ants.
Sachi Tillu, senior in ACES and vice president of Insecta, said many find insects to be “nuisance animals” but believes they are important.
“I feel like right now (Insecta) is just a like-minded group of people who like insects, and it feels more like, almost a minority space in the way that, even within biospaces, insects are not always at the forefront,” Tillu said. “Especially here in Illinois, we wouldn’t have our corn and our soybeans without insects.”
Andrew Webster, senior in ACES and Insecta’s president, said that Insecta creates a unique space between biology clubs with a specific niche in entomology.
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While the cold has shifted the RSO’s meetings indoors, Insecta still gets involved on campus through events like trash cleanups, organized by the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment.
During the colder months, it meets to discuss insects and other interests while playing board games and Kahoots. At their last social, the members created a “bug bracket,” debating and defending the best insect.
“I felt it was really cool to hear what stood out to people about each insect that maybe I wouldn’t have initially thought of,” Tillu said.
Apart from socials, the RSO also visited the Illinois Natural History Survey’s Insect Collection, which houses one of North America’s largest entomological collections.
“It’s such an interesting space, I tell you,” said Tori Arduini, junior in ACES and membership coordinator of Club Insecta. “They actually have more than a million specimens there, and it’s really great to look around in such an intimate space.”
Arduini, who initially got involved in Insecta because of her interest in entomology, began volunteering at the INHS Insect Collection after the RSO’s trip there.
Insecta also wants to provide a platform for current scientific research that goes unnoticed, especially for students not in biology.
According to Webster, Insecta hopes to bring in speakers in entomology and wants graduate students to present their current entomological research.
“It’s an inclusive group of people who have that sort of appreciation for small things that often get overlooked but have so much importance at the same time,” Arduini said.
