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Current Issue: Volume 130, Number 1 July 14, 2009

Ed/Op


Derby
Activities Fair successful

Posted 09-15-2004 at 4:40PM

Peter Baldwin
President of the Union

For the second consecutive year, Rensselaer was ranked as one of the top three schools in the category of most to do on campus, according to the Princeton Review. Last year we were ranked first in the nation. Now we are still holding strong at third. This is an amazing accomplishment for all of our activities, clubs, and organizations. With so much to do on campus, and yet so little time to actually do it, where are students most likely to go with their spare time? As an Executive Board, we have taken a much more proactive approach in advertising Union activities and services. We are no longer waiting for students to find what we have to offer, we are bringing the information to the students. We came into the year with little time to put together an advertising strategy for the Activities Fair. I made it the E-Board’s top priority to make sure that every single freshman was not only aware of the Activities Fair—our primary event for recruiting new students to clubs and organizations—but I wanted them to come into the fair having a good idea of how the Union could accommodate their interests outside of the classroom.

As an E-Board, we acted quickly and effectively, putting a comprehensive plan into place that drew quite possibly record numbers to last week’s Activities Fair. The first thing we did was put together a table at the lounge in the Commons, having different clubs set up a display at the table to advertise not only their club, but also the Activities Fair. The goal of this was to get students thinking what clubs or activities they may want to participate in prior to coming to the fair. We put together pamphlets, flyers and banners, and we even went door-to-door through freshman dorms on the day of the Activities Fair drawing students up to the Field House.

The Activities Fair was a complete success. I knew it when I saw the smiles on the faces of the students in our UPAC organizations, who went into the night possibly facing a crisis situation in decreasing membership, to leaving the night with the rejuvenation and arrival of a new generation of UPAC members that will not only replace graduating members, but bring the smaller UPAC organizations such as UPAC Comedy and UPAC Mothers to another level of student leadership and participation. I also saw it in the Juggling Club, which was inactive last year, but came into the night with one active member and left with over thirty-five interested students. I saw it myself with a list of over thirty people interested in getting involved with the E-Board, and over twenty applications for the remaining freshman seat on the Board. There were comparable results from almost every participating club, and this gives the Union a tremendous boost heading into an already exciting year. The Union will continue to build from this early success to ensure students are able to follow through with their interests in growing clubs that will surely need financial support.



Posted 09-15-2004 at 4:40PM
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