Nerdfighters brainstorm campus projects

Nerdfighters at IU aren’t trying to fight nerds, despite what their name suggests.
On Wednesday night, they simply met for Indian food, video blogs and brainstorming. The first call-out meeting of the year took place in the Community Leadership and Development Center in Read Residence Hall.
Nerdfighers follow Internet video bloggers John and Hank Green. John Green, author of “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Looking for Alaska,” and his brother have gained a strong Internet presence with their blog “Nerdfighters” through Tumblr. Nerdfighters at IU is a student organization that attempts to “decrease world suck” by being proactive members of the community, said Nerdfighters at IU co-chair Kimberly Smith.
“We’re pro-nerd,” Smith said. “We’re fighting for nerdiness. It’s a community of people who are all interested in education, making the world a better place.”
Nerdfighters at IU is entering its second year as a registered student group.
“Last year we did a project where we put nice, encouraging notes on index cards and put them in library books for people to find,” Smith said. “Hopefully it’ll be a little bit bigger this year and we’ll have more of an opportunity to do stuff.”
Last year’s group had 21 students, only seven to 10 of whom were active members, Smith said.
On the national and international levels, Nerdfighters are very involved in Internet communities, Smith said.
“Nerdfighters will generally watch lots of blogs, not just the Green brothers’ blogs,” she said.
Nerdfighters participate in Project for Awesome, a YouTube effort to help
charities.
“It raises awareness about a lot of different charities,” Smith said. “There’s also a fund that gets raised for Project for Awareness, and people vote on which Project for Awareness videos are best, and those charities get part of the money.” 
Junior Amanda Millea has been a Nerdfighter for two years and participated in last year’s club.
“Nerd fighters are pretty much all about the community,” Millea said. “I really like feeling like I’m a part of something. When you just need a break, it’s nice to sit back and be a nerd for awhile.”
Freshman Mitchell Sigmund attended the meeting and said he hopes to be a part of this year’s group.
“I considered myself a Nerdfighter in high school,” Sigmund said. “I was interested to see if there was an actual group.”
Sigmund checked IU’s My Involvement webpage and found the Nerdfighters meeting on the schedule. Interested students can find information about Nerdfighters at IU on Facebook, Tumblr and by contacting Smith at smithkim@indiana.edu.
“It makes it seem more real,” Millea said. “When you take an internet group to a real-life setting. It brings that sense of community closer.”

Follow reporter
Hannah Alani on Twitter
@hannahalani.