Monday, Central Grounds was abuzz with students attending and tabling during the Fall Activities Fair. Organized by Student Council, students browsed over 550 Contracted Independent Organizations, Special Status Organizations and other student-oriented organizations to learn about the plethora of avenues for involvement around Grounds.
Despite the heavy crowding and blazing heat, thousands of students were in attendance at South Lawn, the Amphitheatre and Peabody Lawn where the Fair was held. For first-year attendees, the Fair was their first introduction to all of the extracurricular activities the University has to offer.
When asked what he was looking for in a club, first-year Education student Kevin Ibarra said he was open to many different possibilities and that he was excited to find community wherever it may be.
“I’m [looking forward to] exploring, experimenting with different activities and especially stuff that I have been interested in in the past,” Ibarra said. “[I’m] trying to dip my toes more into the water, and if I get more interested in [a club], I can focus on that [specific] club more.”
For other attendees, including first-year College student Charlene Matha, the Fair was an opportunity to formally connect with clubs of specific interests, which she hopes will help set her up for her personal and professional goals.
“I saw there's a medical student alliance, [and] I also was interested in a global medical student [organization]. I want to travel, for sure, and I also am interested in getting my clinical hours as early as I can,” Matha said.
In addition to wandering through the rows of clubs, many students also tabled for their respective organizations. Xavier Days, a member of the Civil Discourse Initiative and third-year College student, said that he was able to meet many new students and introduce them to the CIO. According to Days, students should not expect to find the one “perfect” club for them, but rather a variety of clubs that best suit their interests and needs.
“One perfect [club], it doesn't exist. I think clubs are like friends — you don't go to one friend looking for everything you want … You've got different friends, and they serve different roles,” Days said. “Civil Discourse [Initiative] for me, it does a lot of that political organizing and talking to other folks. I have other clubs that I show up to just make more social friends.”
For first-year College student Maddie Harriman, the Activities Fair resulted in exactly that — finding different outlets for her various interests.
“I was really interested in finding a lot of pre-law type clubs and organizations … I found a ton of resources, so many things to sign up for. I was also looking for a club sport … I might want to do club soccer, which I'm really excited to try out for, then also anything to do with journalism,” Harriman said. “It was awesome to find a lot of different things that support my interests, but in different ways.”
While marking new beginnings and opportunities for students, the Fair also marked an end for fourth-year students tabling for the last time. For Claudia Hunn, a member of Shakespeare on the Lawn and fourth-year College student, this year’s Fair created a full-circle moment, as she initially met Shakespeare of the Lawn members at her first Activities Fair three years prior.
“I got to meet a couple of key players who ended up being some of my co-stars in my first show, and it was really nice to get to meet them and just be welcomed with open arms,” Hunn said.
Now, as a fourth-year and the director for this semester’s production for Shakespeare on the Lawn, Hunn was able to be the welcoming, guiding force for a new class of members.
"It kind of makes me emotional to think that the people that I met my first year, these people that I so revered, that I still to this day look up to … are people that were in the same position I'm in now,” Hunn said. “They're just regular people, and I'm a regular person, and I'm doing the same thing they did, and I have the power to be that for someone else. It's really nice.”
Despite the new beginnings and the connections the Activities Fair can bring, some students did note some drawbacks. While attendees may enter the Fair with many clubs in mind, the rapid-fire succession of introductory club events means that some students struggle to find their way into their desired club. First-year College student Kennedy Combs explained the overwhelming amount of applications and overlapping interest meetings.
“There's a lot to do for all of these clubs within the next week or two. Everybody has workshops [and] intro. meetings the same next week, and I just signed up for 30 [CIOs],” Combs said. [I’m looking to] sign up for a bunch and see what sticks.”
According to some students, the three different locations of the Activities Fair can also make for less desirable conditions. While this year, the temperature peaked at 84 degrees, some areas such as the Amphitheatre experienced higher temperatures due to the volume of tables underneath the tent. Peabody Lawn also had issues with the grass becoming muddy in the center of the tent, deterring students from visiting the clubs in that area.
Fourth-year College student Ethan Spector was tabling for Fight Cancer at U.Va., and expressed how he believes that location can affect whether students see the Fair’s offerings equally.
“Last year I was in the middle of a tent. It's good for a higher volume of people coming by, but also people are much hotter in the inside of a tent,” Spector said. “So I think people sometimes can be a little less willing to stay and talk and have a full conversation.”
Despite these logistical drawbacks, Hunn said that the Activities Fair remains one of the most effective ways to properly meet and interact with CIOs. While many organizations stay active online and post information on platforms like Instagram, she finds that it is the in-person human interaction — even if brief — that can really make an impact.
“I think the Activities Fair is just a great way to be in person in a world of Instagram advertisements and emails to the first-years and the newcomers — to really just make a face-to-face connection, is really so powerful,” Hunn said.
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