Marymount is home to over 40 student organizations, one of which being the Marymount Marauders. Often seen during Apple and Strawberry Fest, which the club uses as their main form of student outreach, the Marymount Marauders are a student organization joined together by their common love of all things Harry Potter. 

If you were to look up the club on the Marymount website you would find the following description, “We are the Harry Potter generation. To our generation, Harry Potter isn’t just a book series or movies; it is our childhood, our fantasy, our inspiration, and so much more. In our activities, events, and meetings we will learn and embody the true lessons of Harry Potter- which include friendship, courage, love and unity- and bond together over a common obsession.” 

The Marymount Marauders are, at their core, a group of friends who come together to revel in all things Harry Potter. The term, “marauders” being a reference to a group of friends from the series. While many members of the club have read the series, perhaps multiple times, the club welcomes everyone with an interest in Harry Potter, no matter their level of experience. In addition to the books, the club also delves into the movies as well as any other medium for the Harry Potter fandom. 

During the course of one meeting the group watched Harry Potter themed Tik Toks, took online quizzes, and updated each other on general news, such as the recent grosses of the currently running play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” on Broadway. The group also discussed the filming of the latest movie in the “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” series, which is set to release in 2021. 

The club aims to read through one book a semester, and alternates assigning chapters for different members to lead discussion. The Marauders had purposefully aligned reading the chapters of the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone taking place during Halloween for their meeting on the same day. As Caroline Storey, club secretary said in regards to the series, “Something always happens on Halloween.” 

Treasurer Maggie Salko arrived at the meeting in a blue Ravenclaw sweater and a t-shirt that stated “Professor Snape was a single mother”. The shirt was the Marymount Marauders club t-shirt for the 2018-2019 school year, featuring a quote from a YouTube video called “JK Rowling These Days” that is popular among the members in the club. Members of the club will sometimes dwell outside the written world of Harry Potter to try and analyze what isn’t explicitly written in the books, from questioning plot holes to dissecting semantics. Examples that were brought up during the meeting included, what ever happened to Filch and his cat? How does Halloween in the wizarding world relate to Halloween in the muggle world? Did Dobby home school Draco? The Marauders are creative in their discussion of possible outcomes and theories.

Therefore the club is hosting a Fanfiction night on November 21st where people are welcome to write and send in their original works of fanfiction for Harry Potter to be shared with the club. To meet the Registered Student Organization community outreach requirement, the Marauders are planning a Quidditch Match. The Marauders aim to host one event a month, including movie watching parties and game nights. An event for a  night of karaoke is in the works after the club tried to perform Starkid’s “A Very Potter Musical”, an online Harry Potter musical parody, but was unable to do acquire the space to do so. However, Salko decided she wanted to make sure people were still able to have a space to rock out to songs like the ones in the show.

“Honestly, our events tend to come from a ‘what if’ mindset,” said president of the club Jazlyn Hyde. “We understand that some people might not be able to come to our weekly meetings because of class or work so we use events as a way to increase member participation and let people feel like they are a part of the club even if they may not be coming to meetings every week.” 

The club will also host a Yule Ball on December 5th in the Commons East, which Hyde admits is her favorite event of the year. “We host this every December… and it is a huge party that we throw with lots of good food and music. We always have a photo booth set up for people to take advantage of to get the good Instagram photo and we recently started doing a costume contest where people can come dressed up as their favorite Harry Potter character and then the attendees of the Yule Ball vote on who’s outfit they like best. It’s a great way to de-stress before finals come up and also a great way to hang out with your friends.” 

Although the club may be small compared to other clubs on campus, it’s found its niche in who it caters to. The Marauders have been present on campus for so long that the current president who joined her Freshman year was unable to recall the origins of the club. Katy Milewski, Vice President of the Marauders called the club her saving grace when it came to making friends at Marymount, “I think people like that it’s an intimate small club”. A meeting with the Marauders can feel more like a group of friends hanging out than a standard club meeting at a different organization. 

The president of the club Jazlyn Hyde wants the school to know that, “The Marymount Marauders is a place for every fan of the series and movies to gather and have fun talking about any and all things Harry Potter. If you have read all the books 10 times or have only seen one of the movies, all are welcome to come to our meetings. “ 

The Marymount Marauders meet every Thursday from 2:30-4. For more information email [email protected].