Club Fair encourages increased campus involvement

     The Club Fair, held every fall semester on the West Lawn, is a UCCS tradition. It’s an opportunity for clubs and other organizations to advertise ways that students can meet each other and become more involved on campus. A variety of clubs were at this semester’s fair to recruit new members, particularly freshmen.

     “[It was] pretty successful,” Lydia Mulligan, a junior secondary education major with the Literary Society. “It was great because we were able to get a lot of new members to join,” she said.

     In past years, the Club Fair was not representative of the total number of clubs on campus. About 80 clubs would set up tables at the fair even though there were more than 200 clubs total. This year, however, was quite different.

     Jesus Santana, the new director for the Club Fair, made changes to allow more clubs access to the fair. This year’s fair had more than 50 more spaces, with 132 clubs reserving tables.

     “It’s great to have 132 clubs here because it is better for students to be able to get involved,” Santana said.

     Hundreds of students attended the fair to see the different clubs and get a feel for what activities the campus has to offer.

     Members from each club stood at tables, encouraging people to sign up and invited them to informational meetings.

     Music blared in the background, and some groups, like Campus Crusade for Christ, served free snow cones and food. Clubs handed out flyers, necklaces and other mementos to motivate students to join. Twenty local businesses were also present.

     The only thing Santana did not want to change this year was the location of the fair. “It is traditional to have the Club Fair at the West Lawn, so I decided to keep it there,” he said.