Austen Hunzeker
Staff Writer
You’ve probably heard the rumors swirling around campus with theories about what on earth Idaho State University’s Grilled Cheese Club is.
The truth has finally revealed itself. As a Marketing and Management major, ISU Ambassador, and Grilled Cheese Club president, Kaleb Jex cleared the air about what it’s all about. This is his first year as club president.
“We get together a few times a semester, and we eat grilled cheese,” Jex said. “We just want to have people come hang out and enjoy a good grilled cheese on us.”
Dalton Derie, a graduate student studying Business Administration at ISU, says that the club is a fairly simple concept. He has been a part of the Grilled Cheese Club since August and is the vice president.
“It’s all about bringing something fun to campus,” Derie said. “It’s very random but just a cool, different thing on campus.”
The club receives funding through the university as an official club to buy bread and cheese for each gathering.
“It originally started as a joke,” Jex said regarding the founding of the club in the 2021-2022 school year.
According to Jex, it was a joke that started on university tours, where Ambassadors would tell prospective students that if they gathered at least six people, they could start their own club, even a Grilled Cheese Club.
“One of the ISU staff members that work in the Office of Admissions actually challenged them to make it a real thing,” Jex said. “They got the paperwork and filled it out, and bam, now we have the Grilled Cheese Club.”
Currently, there are about 140 people on the Grilled Cheese email list.
“We’re kind of an open-to-all club,” Jex said. “The more people we get, the better. I’d love to be able to cook as many grilled cheese as the ISU budget will let me.”
Jex explained that different events with the Student Activities Board (SAB) and The Jungle helped improve the number of recipients on the email chain. Their ultimate goal is to include anybody in the ISU’s Bengal family.
The Grilled Cheese Club doesn’t have set times to meet for sandwiches. It usually depends on location availability and when schedules permit.
“I’d like to be able to get more consistent,” Jex said. “This semester, we’ve got some plans and we’re going to try to make some cool events.”
Jex feels that there is typically a decent turnout for grilled cheese events and that it’s grown in popularity over the last two years as more people interact with their Instagram. Derie runs the account with the handle @grilledcheeseclubisu.
“We’ve done some funny video filming, and the whole Homecoming setup was pretty funny because they have you compete for points,” Jex.
There are five people on the club leadership team, and they were initially unaware that they would be asked to play tug-of-war.
“We got smoked,” Jex said. “That was so fun, even though we got absolutely obliterated.”
While most clubs are exclusive to specific majors or activities, Jex feels that the Grilled Cheese Club offers anyone at ISU a safe space.
“Fostering relationships and…having a place for everybody is our main mission,” Jex said. “We are open to pretty much everybody. As long as you like grilled cheese…That’s a pretty low-barrier entry, I would like to say.”
One of Jex’s main goals this semester is to partner with bigger clubs on campus and grow the club into a “Staple of ISU Tradition.”
