Woodruff Hall room 21 on a recent Tuesday looked more like UPS than a classroom. Students in the principles of management class taught by Professor Sammantha Carruthers, advisor of the Castleton Business Club, were feverishly wrapping boxes.

The room was full of chaos as students attempted to perfectly wrap cardboard boxes in brown paper, which would eventually become drop boxes for the club’s used cellular phone fund-raiser.

The Business Club is a relatively new club on campus, having started during the fall semester.

Currently, the club has eight members, but that hasn’t discouraged the team.

“I’ll take quality over quantity any day,” said Carruthers.

The Business Club meets every Tuesday during N-Period. Members have common interests in business and can help with questions about the department and its courses, said club President Kerri Meyer.

“The Business Club is available to anyone interested in business,” Meyer said.

Club members hope to get more involved with the community, evidenced by a speaker they recently hosted to talk about how to reduce college debt.

The debt speaker was more successful than they planned, with about 50 people attending Meyers said. The club hopes next year to make it a Sounding Event, she said.

The club also sold carnations for Valentines Day in the Campus Center, which will become an annual fund-raiser, members said.

“It went over really well, made a lot of profit that can go toward trips and events,” said Meyers

On April 10, the club began its cell phone recycling fund-raiser. Those who donate cellular phones will be given the chance to win a gift certificate to Paul’s Pizza, Carruthers said.

“Donating a used, unwanted cell phone allows community members to donate to an important cause without reaching into their wallets,” she said. “The fund-raising potential is almost limitless.

Carruthers said the Business Club is joining the Recycling Alliance program of GRC Wireless Recycling of Miramar, Fla. The company specializes in fund-raising programs involving used cell phones, she said.

According to GRC Wireless Recycling’s Web site, the company has two processes when dealing with recycled cell phones.

The first option is selling re-usable phones to cell phone manufactures. For those cell phones that just can’t be saved, GRC Wireless Recycling has a refining process.

“Our Refining program processes non re-usable phones through a shredding, smelting and metals refining process, according to the Web site grcrecycling.com.

All the money earned from this year’s fund-raising will go toward trips and events for fall 2006 and spring 2007. Where they will go has yet to be decided, said Meyer.

“It’s fun getting to experience how a business is run and we put all the fund-raisers together. We will even design our trip,” said Junior Brittany Garland.

Those wishing to donate a cellular phone may do so at drop boxes in the following locations:

– Business Administration Office
– Campus Center
– Leavenworth Hall
– Library
– Stafford Academic Center
– Black Science