By Payton Williams
From 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Jan. 14 and 15, the Cameron University Office of Campus Life hosted the Student Organization Fair in the McMahon Centennial Complex Lobby.
The event is usually held toward the beginning of each semester, but Administrative Assistant for the Office of Campus life Nicole Ritter said this semester’s event was held over two days.
“That way more organizations could be involved,” Ritter said. “Maybe some of them couldn’t make it on a Tuesday, so they were able to make it on a Wednesday. It gave the organizations more flexibility.”
Splitting the event over two days allowed many more organizations to be involved in the fair than usual, with 22 organizations setting up tables in the McMahon Centennial Complex lobby to reach out to students.
The Organization Fair takes place either in or just outside the McMahon Centennial Complex every year. The complex represents the highest-traffic area on campus for students, and the fair is an excellent recruitment tool for the various student organizations on campus.
“I think the students that go in the MCC are active students,” Ritter said. “And so when we have activities like this, it encourages them to participate in things on campus.”
Student involvement is key to all of organizations presenting at the fair. With all the foot traffic, the goal of every organization member is to do whatever in their power to make students stop and take interest.
To that end, Office of Campus Life Coordinator Leslie Cothren spoke about what she considered to be effective methods Organizations could use to draw attention to their tables and to their message.
“I think the ones that are the most successful are the ones where the students working the tables kind of reach out,” Cothren said. “Lots of times, when we have the Organization Fair, students will stand behind the table, expecting students to walk up to them, and we always try to encourage them to stand in front of the tables, and greet students. They don’t come to you, you come to them.”
Several organizations also provided various visual aids and activities for passing students, in order to directly engage with the people at their tables.
Some of the presentations that stood out included Cameron Campus Ministries’ table, whose table included both a map of the U.S. and a map of the world with pins that students could place to show where they came from, and the PAC table, where representatives presented fliers advertising their upcoming Bossaball event and excitedly explained what exactly Bossaball is.
Ritter took time to speak about what the importance of the Organization Fair is to the campus as a whole.
“Each organization has a mission,” Ritter said. “And the Organization Fair allows the organizations to reach students with their mission, goal, or agenda.”
For more information on the various organizations on Campus, and their upcoming events, contact the Cameron University Office of Campus Life at 580-581-2217.