Many incoming freshmen at Ohio State look to bring certain things from home with them when they leave for college. For some, this could mean a favorite movie or photo album. For Paul Fox, this meant continuing his love for music through his collection of vinyl records.

Fox got his start in vinyl records from his parents.

“I inherited my sister’s record player when she graduated from high school. Our family moved from Virginia to Ohio and listened to my parents’ collection; I like classic rock, and that’s what they had,” said Fox.

The Ohio State Vinyl Club was started by Fox in the fall of 2015, a third-year in aviation engineering, and his friend Josh Lan, a third-year in computer science in order to share their love for vintage music.

The meetings consist of members bringing their favorite records and putting them in a stack to be played; then the members relax, talk or do homework while everyone enjoys the music. The meetings take place at various members’ houses on Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. every other week.

Fox and Lan started listening to their records with friends casually during their sophomore year. They quickly realized this recipe of friends, community and music could become very popular.

“We knew students shared an interest in records at school due to how many people we hung out with loved hanging out and listening to them,” Fox said.

He said the Vinyl Club was created in an effort to help give students a fun sanctuary to continue their hobby of listening to records while at school.

The club was officially organized in the summer of 2015 and started sign-ups at the following Fall Student Involvement Fair.

It didn’t take Madison Ewing, a first year in marketing, long to get involved.

“I first heard about Vinyl Club at the involvement fair,” said Ewig, the club’s newly elected vice president. “I passed the booth and thought to myself, ‘This could be interesting.’ I brought my record player and vinyls with me to school, and I thought I might as well check it out.”

Comparative studies professor Barry Shank is the club’s advisor, but he said students are the club’s heartbeat.

“It’s almost exclusively student-run and -directed,” Shank said. “I use my faculty membership to approve budgets and ideas that the club comes up with. However, they handle most of the work on their own.”

The club is still fairly new to campus and is always looking to provide a fun place for students to enjoy their hobby.

Students don’t have to own any vinyl records or even know anything about records to come, Fox said.

“Everyone is welcome to come check us out,” he said. “No one should feel like they can’t come because they don’t know a lot about music.”

Students looking to get involved can find more information via the club’s Facebook group.