Fall 2019 Club Awareness Day
Students celebrate the Santa Monica College (SMC) Club Fair on the SMC main campus, in Santa Monica, Calif. on Thursday, September 26th 2019. (Marco Pallotti/The Corsair)
On Thursday, Sept. 26, clubs from the Santa Monica College (SMC) community were on display with hopes of recruiting new members.
Each club had their own unique formula to draw in as many students as they could at their respective tables. Colorful decorations, chants, music, karaoke, dancing and club members approaching every student passing by were all methods employed. No matter what tactic was used, curious students walking in different directions willingly filled each table wanting to learn more about what each club had to offer.
Clubs that were present during the festivities included the Active Minds Of SMC, Anthropology Club, Art Club, Women in STEM (Wi STEM) and Young Americans For Freedom, among others.
Although each club serves a different purpose to SMC, they all had one main goal in common; Increase club membership. In fact - for new clubs - including the Women in STEM club, 2019 marks their first semester at SMC. This year’s Club Awareness Day was very important for them. Wi STEM's purpose is to offer support for women who are majoring in the STEM fields by providing networking events, field trips and volunteering opportunities for its members.
While discussing what the club wants from prospective members, Wi STEM's president Latifah Safiei shared, “We want people to be active and we want people to engage in women in the STEM and also be aware on what’s going on."
When asked about the club's goals for this semester she stated, "For this semester to do at least two field trips, we want to also tour two bio labs and we want to volunteer reaching the elementary and high school students.”
Another club on campus who made their goals for the semester very clear during club awareness day was the art club. The goals for this semester are not only geared towards increasing membership but to also raise more awareness on the art department, including the art building.
While many students had an idea about which club they wanted to join, students like Matthew Gallagher didn’t. This semester was Gallagher's first Club Awareness Day.
“I'm looking around trying to find maybe one or two clubs that I'm interested in," Gallagher said.
Overall, whether a student was interested in a club based in the stem field, art, music or even political science, this year’s Club Awareness Day most likely offered it.