The Student Organization Club Expo hosted by the Department of Student Life on Wednesday Jan. 29 offered students the unique opportunity to browse through the different activities and organizations offered on campus.
More than 100 organizations participate in this expo each semester to showcase what they do and attempt to recruit new members. This serves as a great chance for students, whether new to the college or returning and yearning for involvement, to meet new people and escape their comfort zone. For some students, too, this event is used to find other people to socialize with.
One of the clubs present at this event was Hillel at Geneseo. This club, promoting Jewish religion on campus, allows students the chance to practice religion in a comfortable, safe space on campus. This club also works to achieve greater diversity in its community, as it keeps its doors open to any students who would like to become involved, regardless of their faith.
With its smaller size, members of Hillel took advantage of this expo, as they decorated their table with goodies and handed out cards with the club’s information. The members’ hope was to promote Hillel within the campus community.
“It’s important that we promote ourselves because we are a small club and we want to bring clout to our organization,” adolescent education history major sophomore and Hillel president Lara Goodman said. “The club fair is really awesome for everyone on campus because they get to see all the different clubs without bias, and they get to learn about [each organization] in an open environment.”
The Hillel at Geneseo has its weekly community gathering on Friday nights at 5:30 p.m. for a Shabbat service followed by a homemade dinner at 6. With their inclusive environment, they welcome students to attend both options offered, or whichever open the student feels most comfortable attending.
In addition to the Hillel, there was also Brothers and Sisters in Christ. BASIC is another religious group on campus that promotes Christianity. Members also expressed their gratitude for this event, being that it is one of their primary ways to grow membership.
“So, the club expo is awesome because we get all these people who are coming into the school and want to get more involved and then they come and see our table. We always get new sign-ups every year and people always show up for the first event,” business administration major senior and vice president of BASIC Madeleine Metcalf said. “We always get a lot of support from it … We’re BASIC, so we’re Brothers and Sisters in Christ and we meet weekly for a Bible study and fellowship time.”
This expo guides students in finding activities they feel most interested in, and in turn, helps grow the various clubs on campus.