Club Fair: Connect and Learn

By Nora Kenyon Last updated Jan 30, 2025

Groups like this advertise their clubs for new and returning students! PHOTO CREDIT: YASSIR CRUZ ’28

The St. Lawrence University Club Fair drew a crowd to the Winston Room this past Friday with lots of excitement. However, some clubs are not seeing these crowds transfer to new people attending their club.

“We didn’t have any new members at Monday night pickup,” said Emmons Whited ’27. Whited is a captain of SLU’s ultimate team, Ruckus Bus, which has been dealing with low participation. “We didn’t see a huge number of sign-ups at the club fair though,” he said.

Similarly, the Habitat for Humanity theme house saw that they had fewer sign-ups than the fall semester club fair. “We got a handful, but we make people sign up for the nail competition,” said a member of the house, Ellie Strade ’27. The Habitat theme house typically has people sign up and guess how many nails are in a jar in hopes of winning a prize. While this may incentivize some, it does not mean everyone will show up to later club events. However, Strade noted that they still have a lot of participation in weekly activities like woodburning and woodcarving.

The club fair is typically a packed event where students get to interact with the multitude of campus clubs. Each club tables with representatives ready to recruit people and answer any questions they may have. It’s a great event for new students, especially in the fall semester with the new first-year class. It helps students make connections and get involved on campus.

There are a few student speculations on why some clubs experienced a lower number of sign-ups this semester. “Everyone coming back from abroad already knows what they like,” said Whited. Now that the London FYP program is no longer running, the people missing the fall club fair are either upperclassmen who are abroad and already in clubs or transfer students. This seems to have led to less of a need for a spring club fair.

Even with some clubs having lower numbers of signups, the club fair is still a great event for the community. It allows clubs to network with one another, collaborating on future events and advertising their services to campus.

“It’s harder to jump into a new club in the spring semester than the fall,” said Whited. While it can be scary to join a club in the middle of the year, don’t let that stop you. Clubs are always looking for new members!