MURFREESBORO — As
they flowed into the Student Union Ballroom Tuesday afternoon, curious MTSU
students were treated to a full room of information booths representatives from
the myriad student organizations available on the Blue Raider campus.
The Center for Student Involvement and Leadership held its
spring Student Organization Fair, which drew about 75 student organizations who
reserved space to set up informational booths and in some cases demonstrations
in hopes of attracting new members.
Jackie Victory,
director of the Office of Student Organizations and Service, said this marks
the third year for the spring fair, and while she was pleased with the hundreds
of students who stopped by during the three-hour event, the organizations on
hand represented a sampling of the 350 or so such students groups on campus.
“What we want to do is showcase what there is to do on
campus, to get students plugged in to, at a minimum, their departmental
organizations, but then we want to get them involved in other things as well
because we want this to feel like home to students,” Victory said.
Here’s a video recap of the event: https://youtu.be/n4p2HmVA-Ms
From various campus ministries to the Student Government
Association and from sports clubs to clubs catering to intense gamers, the
spring fair offered a wide range of student groups whose representatives shared
brochures, free snacks and a variety of swag to entice attendees to stop by for
a quick conversation and even provide contact information for follow ups.
Bryan Long, a sophomore
photography major from Murfreesboro, was initially a graphic design major
before the Photo Society of MTSU piqued his interest. The group meets weekly to
discuss topics such as photography techniques, take field trips to practice
their skills or perhaps work in the dark room together.
Members don’t have to be photography majors, which is sort
of the point.
“It kind of lets you get a chance to try out some of the
things you would get to do if you were a photo major, but if you’re not, you
get a chance to work in the Photo Building and see what’s in there,” said Long,
vice president of the group.
Alecia Miller, a
freshman criminal justice major from Clarksville, Tennessee, heard about the
fair from her friend Celeste Brown,
a freshman nursing major also from Clarksville. Miller didn’t know what to
expect, but afterward felt her time was well invested.
“It was really informational. I really liked it,” she said,
holding information she picked up about the Alpha Kappa Psi business
fraternity, which she plans to join. “I didn’t know we had that many different
organizations on campus.”
MTSU senior Zack
Looney, a history major/archeology minor from Franklin, Tennessee, is using
his last semester to help further establish MT Greens, the university chapter
of the national Green Party that launched during the fall semester.
Although the party’s long-shot nominee Jill Stein wasn’t
successful, her candidacy provided an alternative choice in a bitterly divisive
election season in which the campaigns of the major party candidates didn’t
resonate with many among the millennial generation.
“We really just wanted to bring a third party voice into the
mix here at MTSU,” said Looney, who is scheduled to graduate in May. “There
were a couple of students who got together and we realized the Republicans and
the Dems both didn’t represent the way that we felt politically, so we came
together … and we were able to form.”
Looney said the group worked with other organizations in the
fall such as Black Lives Matter and hopes to work with even more groups going
forward on issues of mutual interest and concern.
For those students who can’t find a student organization
that addresses their area of interest, Victory said that a new group can be
established if five currently enrolled like-minded students submit the proper
paper work and secure the required faculty adviser. Her office then reviews the
application to determine whether the group will be officially registered on
campus.
For more information about MTSU student organizations, call
615-898-5812 or visit www.mtsu.edu/involve.
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