Students at Activity Fair

300 Students, One Snake Attend Activity Fair

08/31/2012

Wednesday, Aug. 29, marked the annual student activities fair on the SUNY-ESF Quad, giving more than 300 students a chance to meander among 27 tables decorated with posters, photos and information. The purpose of this event was to give all the clubs, teams and societies on campus a chance to interact with new students who might be looking for something to do.

A representative of the ESF Woodsmen's team demonstrated a competitive event, which involved standing on a log and chopping it in half with an axe, while pointing interested students to the team's table. The representatives from The Wildlife Society passed around a live snake to pique the interest of animal lovers.

The main point of the fair is to recruit new members for the student organizations and show the new freshmen and transfer students what groups exist on campus. Ian Barin, a senior environmental studies major and representative of the Empire Forester, the ESF yearbook club, said, "This is the biggest recruitment event we attend, we get a lot of freshman who have participated in yearbook before, but also students who have always wanted to but never had the opportunity before ESF." The groups collect the names and email addresses of potential new members to contact them later about meeting times and other information.

The fair was heavily advertised during orientation, which paid off because the majority of students inquiring about clubs were freshmen. Jon Eoic-Miller, a freshman chemistry major said, "The fair was helpful in deciding which clubs I would like to join, one of which being the Alchemy Club which is related to my major." Eoic-Miller was surprised at the amount of groups there were for the relatively small size of the College.

Laura Crandall, director of student involvement and leadership, encourages students to get involved in clubs. "It is important to participate in something on campus other than classes, and becoming part of a group teaches a student leadership and other skills that really complete the ESF experience," she said.

In addition to the recruitment effort, there was a barbecue serving burgers, hotdogs and refreshments. In the middle of the Quad stood a large black-and-yellow blow-up game in which students pushed a large inflated wrecking ball into each other to try to knock other people off the structure. The fair was the first all-student event held on the Quad this semester and served as a bright welcome event to kick start the academic year.

— By Brianna Reed ES '13