University students filled the Lenhart Grand Ballroom of the Student Union Tuesday for BGSU’s annual “Get Involved Fair.”
The fair, organized by the Office of Campus Activities, “allows organizations to gather in one place to show students what they have to offer”, said Pedro Portillo, administrative graduate assistant for campus activities.
The “Get Involved Fair” has hosted each spring as a counterpart to fall semester’s “Campus Fest” for more than a decade.
More than 100 organizations participated and about 500 interested students came.
During the fair, organizations set up information booths and handed out free materials such as candy and t-shirts in hopes of catching the eyes of passing students, Portillo said.
The Get Involved Fair is beneficial not only to students, but to the soliciting organizations as well.
“Students come to the event to find organizations to join, but at the same time, organizations come to recruit new members.” said sophomore Tanner Zizelman, who came to join a fraternity.
Audra Facinilli, president of the Herpetology Club, said her club generated a lot of student interest.
Facinilli said during the fair almost all of the groups informational fliers had been passed out.
“We weren’t able to organize a booth for Campus Fest, so this is really our first big exposure,” Facinilli said.
Last year’s assessment of the fair by the Office of Campus Activities concluded that 77 percent of students were more inclined to get involved on campus as a direct result of the event.
Students who attended the fair agreed with the results.
Freshman Shari Saunders said even though she is a member of a couple organizations, she was thinking about joining more because of the fair.
What she admires about the fair is that it is setup in a way that allows students to “talk to people who are already in the organization and see what it’s like.”
The ultimate goal of the event is to get students involved with their school community and to explore their options outside of the classroom.
Portillo reminds students to go to events like the Get Involved Fair and Campus Fest to “see if there’s something out there for you.”
