On a sweltering August afternoon, hundreds of students flocked to South Lawn, the Amphitheater and Peabody Lawn where they were greeted by over 520 student-led organizations at this year’s fall Activities Fair hosted by Student Council. From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, organizations from academic and professional clubs to Greek life to club sports to visual and performing arts.
Each registered group receives a space to promote their activities and reach out to interested students. In contrast to years past, this year Student Council offered registration to organizations free of charge, using half tables instead of full tables to accommodate more groups.
“We wanted to be fair to all organizations and allow more to join,” said Riley Reynolds, vice president of organizations and fourth-year College student.
Another success this year was that there was no need for medical intervention due to heat exhaustion or lack of water. Though Student Council arranged for fire departments and paramedic services to attend in the event a student required assistance, Reynolds noted no students passed out.
“I’m really happy that the doubling of water stations and tents helped everyone stay safe at the fair,” Reynolds said.
Fourth-year College student Kathryn Lapalucci and third-year Commerce student Mabel Smith represented HooThon, a fundraising group for the University Children’s Hospital and Children’s Miracle Network. Smith said the fair is important for the club in gaining enough members to coordinate events later in the year.
“The activity fair is definitely our biggest recruiting event to get to first,” Smith said.
Tabling for the Department of Music, fourth-year College student Ethan Fox also spoke to high attendance at the activities fair.
“We had plenty of people coming up,” Fox said. “People seemed really excited about the music department, and all the opportunities.”
In an Instagram post promoting the event, Student Council targeted the event towards new members of the University, specifically first years, second years and transfer students.
As a student attending the fair for a second time, second-year College student Leslie Kim said that she hoped to find a group that more closely aligns with her interest in STEM subjects.
“I signed up for too many clubs in the first year and was a little overwhelmed, so I wanted to revisit the fair this year to pick a smaller amount to get more involved in,” Kim said.
Student Council organized tables by category so that students could identify similar organizations with similar goals. The South Lawn contained academic and professional groups, service groups and religious organizations, while the visual and performing arts were located on Peabody Lawn.
Despite the vast variety of clubs available to prospective numbers, Smith also spoke positively of the day’s turnout and reported a successful number of names on HooThon’s signup sheet.
“We got a lot of names, so it seems to be successful,” Smith said. “It's all about stopping people, saying hello, getting to know them, getting them interested in what we're doing.”
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