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Dilek Aktaş & Erdal Ceylan & Reyhan Eskiyurt & Birgül Özkan
As adult individuals in university life, students will be able both to organize club ac-
tivities which guide societies, and to contribute to their development through club
activities. In addition to education, universities also aim to provide social development
for individuals and to provide individuals with different skills. For this reason,the es-
tablishment of student clubs at universities is very important for achieving these goals
(Resmi Gazete, 2008).In this context, student clubs enable students to participate in
scientific, cultural, social, artistic and sports events (Yıldırım Beyazıt University Stu-
dent Club Establishment and Operation Direction, 2011). In more detail, participating
in student clubs allows students to have higher academic achievement (Wang and
Shiveley, 2015), to attend to the school regularly, to increase their self-esteem, to
gain self-esteem, to increase their commitment to university, and to communicate
positively with adults in society (Wilson, 2009). It also allows students to develop their
leadership skills (Foreman and Retallick, 2013), to better understand themselves, to
create new networks and to work with different groups of people (Bentley University,
2017). Foubert and Grainger’s (2006) study with 407 university students showed that
the students who participated in student organizations were better than the students
who were never interested in student organizations in all aspects of education, career
planning, lifestyle planning, lifestyle management, cultural participation and academic
autonomy(Foubert ve Grainger, 2006). In the study conducted by Mizusawaa et al.
(2012), it was stated that the students who belonged to a student club had a higher
“occupational readiness score” than the other students (Mizusawaa, Hochiave Miz-
unoa, 2012).
Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University (AYBU) student clubs were established for the pur-
pose of constantly encouraging university students in scientific, social, cultural, ar-
tistic, sports and professional fields (Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University Student Club
Establishment and Operation Directive, 2011).One of these clubs is “AYBU Healthy
Life Club” which was established in 2016. Immediately after its establishment, its
activities were started with its instructors and members. The mission of the club is to
contribute to the development of healthy individuals and a healthy society, organize
health education (conferences, seminars, public education activities), organize activ-
ities, and lastly, educate and inform people about the current diseases by explaining
the basic criteria of healthy life.
Within the scope of these aims, a number of activities were carried out as AYBU
Healthy Life Club in the academic year of 2016-2017. In this review, the activities of
AYBU Healthy Lifestyle Club students to protect and develop health will be discussed
