Erin Owens
Staff Writer
Students and faculty came together Thursday, Jan. 14 in the McMahon Centennial Complex for the CU Spring Organization Fair. The fair is held every semester and gives students the opportunity to discover the different organizations on campus, including cultural, social and academic associations.
The fair provided students the opportunity to meet with members from each organization in attendance and learn more about what the association had to offer. Chi Alpha faculty advisor Dr. Clinton Bryan said that his organization focused on supporting students on campus with prayer, fellowship, discipleship, witness and worship.
“A lot of students are going off to college for the first time,” Bryan said. “They lose their support system or their family network to some degree, and they have perhaps more independence than they have ever had before.
“We afford the opportunity where they can have friends if they don’t know anybody else on campus, and they can have a community in which they can find that network or support.”
The fair also provided students the chance to become involved with a larger network of people.
Hayley Deighan, vice president of chapter organizations, said that Delta Sigma Pi was a great organization for building networks that could be helpful when looking for job placement after graduation.
“We are a professional business fraternity made up of men and women who are business majors,” she said. “Our purpose is to develop leaders within the community, connect with our business community and also to network. We have a national network and we go to events all around.”
Students were able to join an organization on the spot. Sarah Downen, the Student Government Association representative for the Psychology Club said that the organization fair accounts for roughly 10 percent of their new members each year.
“It’s great,” she said. “With everybody coming in and walking by we are able to talk to them and we’ve already had someone sign up.”
For smaller associations like the Cameron Multimedia Club, the fair provided secretary Kaytlen Dayhoff the chance to speak with non-multimedia majors.
“We’re a small club so we are kind of just condensed within our department,” she said. “We can’t allow non-multimedia students to use the computers and equipment in our multimedia department and that has kind of driven people away before,” she said.
Dayhoff added that the multimedia club is more than just the use of equipment though.
“We always like to do homecoming and we put a big focus on that,” she said. “Also around Christmas time we connect with the Catholic church and deliver gifts to families who can’t afford Christmas. We also do photography retreats where we go hiking at Mt. Scott and take pictures.”
The organization fair is a place for Cameron students looking to join an association to explore which would be the best fit for them. For the organizations on campus who want to spread the word about their association and how it can benefit students and the community around them, the organization fair allows them the platform to do so.
For Cameron students who want to get involved in an organization but did not have the chance to stop by Thursday’s fair, a full list of all campus organizations can be located on Cameron’s website under the student organizations homepage.