Brandli and Briane Pauley had a mutual epiphany. In the spring of their sophomore year, the former students took a class with the (now) associate dean of the school of graduate studies and research, Natalie Lupton Ph.D., titled “What Is Happiness?” Blown away by the class, they decided to create a local movement by forming CWU’s Happiness Club.

“We want to help people who aren’t achieving their full [level of] happiness and get them to that point,” Jackson Wollan, a junior in supply chain management and current president of the Happiness Club, said.

The club tackles this ambitious goal with an array of different activities designed to unearth the joy in all of its diverse members.

“Jackson is pretty good about switching it up,” Trevor Schuler, a junior in supply chain management and the marketer of the Happiness Club, said. “We all wrote nice notes to each other at one meeting. They were anonymous, so people would feel comfortable. There was one [meeting] with a bunch of markers and we drew little pictures because some people find happiness in drawing. We played Minute To Win It at another. Jackson’s just really good about mixing it up and tapping into everyone and finding what makes each individual person happy.”
The Happiness Club has also been active through campus events as well. In Oct. 2015, Wollan led a group of special needs kids from Cle Elum through CWU, touring the SURC and the Japanese garden.

“That was a powerful part of our club, giving back to [others],” Wollan said.

In February there was Random Acts of Kindness Week, a worldwide event dedicated to celebrating and spreading kindness. The Happiness Club teamed up with the Central Student Alumni Association to give out candy, hold doors open and share free coffee and food.

They also helped with Student Appreciation Day for several years, giving back to the student body through fun activities including a photo booth, candy, music and (one year) a giant Jenga pile.
“That was really cool,” Schuler said. “We did a table at the SURC and everyone was going through the SURC, all those classes. We had a massive jenga and everyone loved that and [a] bunch of people were all like smiling, which is what we’re all about.”

Creating and spreading smiles is one of the main goals of the Happiness Club. If people are smiling, the club figures it’s doing its job. Some of its members even have trouble stopping.
“Jackson is always smiling,” Lupe Campos, a senior in marketing and supply chain management and the vice president of the Happiness Club, said. “You’ll never see him not smiling. It rubs off on you.”

“I can’t frown. I’m not allowed to frown,” Wollan said, laughing. “The secretary came up with a motto for us: ‘Spreading happiness one smile at a time.’ That’s really what we want to do. If we can change or improve one person’s perspective on how they can achieve happiness, then we are achieving our goal as the Happiness Club.”