Activities Fair to connect students, organizations

“This is a great way for students to see all of the organizations and meet people who are already in those organizations. People don’t realize that we have over 140 organizations on campus.” -Michelle Hernandez, senior business administration major.

Union Activities Council will host the annual Activities Fair from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. September 3 in Union Square and surrounding areas. The fair is an opportunity for students to learn more about the different organizations available on campus.

“I originally went to the fair because I wanted to get involved,” said Sarah Shulte, senior microbial cellular biology major and vice president of Associated Student Government. “(The Activities Fair) was one of the best ways to do it.”

With 80-100 booths set up in one area, students may have trouble deciding which booths to visit, so event coordinators have come up with a plan to combat the problem. Each organization will have an area sectioned off at the fair and there will be areas for special interest groups and the different departments on campus. This setup should allow students to find what organization they are interested more quickly.

“Any recognized campus organization, community service organization or department on campus can come get tables and set up to recruit and get people interested in their organizations,” said Michelle Hernandez, senior leadership development intern and business administration major.

According to Mary Shivley, assistant director for student involvement and leadership, the Activities Fair is supposed to be more successful than the events of years past. Every year the event gets more noteworthy and organizations become more aware of it. This year is also the first time that the Activities Fair has booked an emcee for the event.

Dave Enns, also known as Dave the Horn Guy from Comedy Central’s The Gong Show, will host the event. Enns is competing for first or second place on The Gong show.

“(Enns) has all different sizes of bike horns that he has strapped onto his body,” Shivley said. “Then he plays songs on them.”

Though fair attendance has been totaled at about 1000 students in past years, event coordinators hope to draw an even larger crowd this year.

“It is humongous,” Hernandez said. “You can’t come on campus without seeing it.”

Shivley hopes that Enns will attract more people to the event by doing ten minute performances on a stage set up in front of Science Hall during periods of class changes. Enns will also make announcements about other booths set up around the fair.

Hernandez stressed the importance of the Activities Fair, especially for those who are new to ESU.

“This is a great way for students to see all of the organizations and meet people who are already in those organizations,” Hernandez said. “People don’t realize that we have over 140 organizations on campus.”

Organizations can still sign up for a booth in the CSI office until the end of the day tomorrow.

“Everyone needs to come check out (the Activities Fair) because you never know what could become your new favorite hobby or how much this can change your college experience,” Hernandez said. “The more involved you are, the better college experience you will have.”