Superheroes of Club Fair

By NICK NGO

When students walked into the College Center on Monday they might have noticed the notorious feline bandit known as Catwoman sitting at a table filled with sports equipment.

In the northeast corner of the College Center, Cynthia Mershon over saw the future of students by reading their palms. And Christina Anderson read the tarot cards to indicate the futures of the students and how well they turn out later in life.

Toward the south end, Ben Vigil took on the role of ‘Rainbow Bright’ to host Queers and Allies Student Organizations version of Jeopardy known as “Queer Jeopardy.”
This was the combination of events and activities, provided by the clubs of Mt. Hood Community College and the Student Organizations and clubs, for the Club Fair this week.
The Club Fair, which ran Monday through Thursday, is an event that helps students interact with campus clubs. Of the 40 clubs at MHCC, 25 were signed up to participate in the Club Fair.

The purpose of the fair is to help campus clubs advertise, by showing and telling students about the different types of clubs MHCC has to offer, and what kind of events or activities each individual club can put on.

“I think it’s been lots of fun,” Jennifer Summering, vice president of leadership for Rho Theta, said. “[The fair gives] lots of opportunities to share the organization with the student body.”

“It’s really exciting to see so much energy in one place,” Dee McGrath, member of the Mental Health Club, said.

Another reason for the Club Fair is to help the clubs themselves. They use this week as an opportunity to recruit new members. Yet most of them stress that it’s not about recruiting new members, but about informing students of what their club actually does.
Other clubs participated in clearing up some misconceptions. Some clubs say students mistakenly think in order to join their club they would have to take part in the classes. For example, the Science and Natural Resources Club is open to any major. Students can come to the meetings, have fun interacting with the members and participate in other club’s activities.

The Club Fair held a variety of events, including palm reading, tarot cards and live music. They had a disc jockey who played music throughout the fair, and on Wednesday he was taking requests. On Wednesday, a caricature artist came to sketch pictures of students who sat down with her.

Some clubs held mini-quizzes and mini-raffles at their table; they asked questions regarding the type of club they are. For example, Queer Jeopardy by QASO was a method to inform and raise awareness about “L.G.B.T.” (lesbians, gays, bisexual and transsexual) and their history, such as the Gay Rights Movement.  Asian Culture Appreciation Club member Sourixay Vilalay asked if people were able to guess what country he was from to get a passport stamp. The Science Club asked science questions, giving prizes to those who answered correctly.

The Associated Student Government held a $50 giveaway four times each day. They gave out a passport containing the name of all the clubs, and to be entered in the drawing, students needed to go around the room and get all the clubs to stamp the passport. The passports have been used in earlier Club Fair events, and Director of Student Organizations and Clubs Amy Bohanon thought it would be fun and a good way to get students to visit every Club’s booth. The preparations for the Club Fair were lead by Bohanon.

Bohanon and the other clubs planned the Club Fair throughout the fall, meeting every Monday. Bohanon said it wasn’t hard to plan the event: the work centered on figuring out a lot of details like the date and time, getting a room reserved, getting the clubs signed up, coming up with a theme, entertainment and decorations. Bohanon said the hardest part was figuring out the vendors for the live entertainment.

Each club came up with an idea for their booth, and all clubs decorated their booths according to what the club is about. Laying out props and giving away candy, each club had a their own approach to entertaining the student body.

The Writers’ Club decorated their table with graphic novels and flyers while the Hospitality and Tourism Club’s table was a tropical setting with brochures and a beach umbrella to the side.

Other booths showed past events and activities that they had planned, such as the Latino Club with pictures of Cinco de Mayo celebrations. The Asian Culture Appreciation Club aired their Miss Asia Pageant on a television.

Some clubs did live performances to inform the public of what they do, like the Tae Kwon Do Club. They did a live presentation on Wednesday by practicing kicks and punches with karate equipment. Image Makers did a runway show on Thursday, dressing up girls in superhero outfits, doing their hair and make-up to fit the style.

“[Club fair] gives them the opportunity to flex their muscles,” said Stephen Floyd, ASG director of communications. “To come out and show off what they know and do.”
According to Joe Fischer, the associate vice president of student life, the students who create the fair got just as much out of it as the students attending the fair. They benefit by planning the event, using teamwork, members collaborating their skills (such as marketing, budgeting and using resource). Also, Fischer said they can take the skills they developed preparing for this event and apply them to the real world.