Berry College Student Involvement Fair

During my time at Berry College, many of my on-campus work positions involved organizing events and managing people. From working with the student-run activities board to serving as an RA on a freshman hall, I gained extensive experience putting together opportunities for members of the campus community to engage and interact in new and exciting ways. These skills came to fruition most profoundly at the beginning of my senior year, however, when I planned and orchestrated the Student Involvement Fair for student organizations and clubs to recruit new members and spread the word about their community. Throughout the two-hour casual event, over a quarter of the student body attended the Student Involvement Fair, allowing for thousands of campus connections and involvement opportunities (particularly for new students) to occur. 

Working from the moment I returned to campus for the fall semester, I ensured that over sixty unique clubs had representation at the Student Involvement Fair. Through thorough communication and the allocation of resources to set up the event in a centralized location on campus with ample tables, chairs, and walking room, I ensured that any organization on campus that wanted to take advantage of a start-of-year outreach opportunity had the chance to do so. As the Student Involvement Coordinator, I also worked with members of the administrative involvement team to delegate representatives to check people into the event, help club officers locate and set up their tables, and conduct miniature games throughout the fair where students could win prizes such as free shirts. The projectors also advertised many upcoming public events on campus that were taking place in the two weeks following the event in order to spread awareness of ongoing activities. My primary goal in executing the event was to ensure that existing students could make connections with new students – as well as returning students with new interests – as seamlessly and easily as possible.

In my role as Student Involvement Coordinator, I had access to the data and analytics from the event’s attendance after it ended. Using my college’s online engagement platform, I could see that the Student Involvement Fair had an attendance of over 500 students, which makes up a quarter of the entire enrollment at the school. I also used this data to assess which organizations did not make an appearance at the fair in order to follow up with them directly with more involvement opportunities. This also allowed me to evaluate which organizations needed further assistance in transitioning into a new academic year. All in all, the event presented a massive success in terms of igniting an abundance of new social connections and promoting a spirit of belonging and the expression of individual interests in a safe, friendly environment at the beginning of the year – a time when many people may find themselves unsure of where to go and what to do in a new place.