Over 80 clubs and organizations turned out to recruit new members at the annual Student Activities Fair held on Friday, Sept 7.
The Student Activities Fair has habitually been a chance for undergraduates, particularly freshmen, to learn about the wide variety of opportunities to get involved at Fairfield.
This year’s event was hosted by the University Student Activities department and sponsored by SOBOG (Student Organization Board of Governors).
Attendees had the opportunity to fill out a card and enter a raffle for a number of prizes, including gift cards, season tickets to the Fairfield men’s and women’s basketball games and for the grand prize, a brand new iPOD Nano.
FUSA, the pep band, The Mirror, Fairfield Young Life and many others set up shop, forming lines of tables throughout the Oak Room and the BCC patio.
“The more people who are involved, the more things we can do,” said Denise Legreci ’09, secretary of the Italian Club. “Plus, our club is a great way for freshmen to meet new people and make friends, because we do a lot of social events.”
There were even a few up-and-coming groups operating tables, looking to spark interest in their club and gain enough members to become official.
Women’s club soccer, which began unofficially last spring, has recently become a certified club. During the fair, Megan Wilgucki ’09 manned the table for the team.
“I have high hopes for our club because I think a lot of people are interested and it’s something that people have wanted,” she said.
Looking to start her own hip-hop dance team on campus, Nikita Francois ’10 set up her own table at the fair.
“My main goal was to get as many signatures as possible to give me an idea about the amount of interest in the team,” said Francois. “I got more than 50 signatures and quite a few compliments.”
Over 800 students packed in, shoulder to shoulder, in the Oak Room, estimated Chris Elsesser, a graduate assistant with Student Activities and Facilities who worked at the fair. Many of these were freshmen, including Diana Genovese.
“I came because I wanted to do the concert committee in FUSA, but I found all these other really great clubs. I joined Peace OUTside Campus and EMS,” she said.
A small number of upperclassmen also headed to the activities fair, whether to grab a burger at the barbeque outside or to see what kind of new clubs Fairfield had to offer.
Others, including sophomore, Donna O’Neill, came to the event looking for clubs that would grab her attention.
“I didn’t really get involved last year and I wanted to this year,” she said.
Leave a Reply