Something new at the fair

The Truman State University spring Activities Fair took place last week, with a new scavenger hunt incentive for attendees.

The Activities Fair took place Tuesday and Wednesday of last week. The fair was at the Student Union Building in various rooms. Each organization was given its own table, which could be decorated however the organization saw fit. 

The Activities Fair is put together by the Organizational Development Team based in the Union and Involvement Services office. The team is comprised of seven members. In addition to planning the Activities Fair, the Organizational Development Team usually works with new organizations starting on campus, ensuring organizations are in good standing with the University and have access to resources such as room reservations. 

“We’re pretty used to [planning the Activities Fair]. It’s part of a routine,” Em Smith, organizational development team lead, said. “It is interesting right now with COVID, trying to make sure that we keep things as distanced as we can while still providing a good Activities Fair experience for everyone.”

Additional COVID-19 precautions were that only two representatives of an organization were to be sitting at each table at a time. Also, while small individually wrapped candy was allowed to be given out by the organizations, any real food was not allowed. The tables were also spaced out more than they were prior to COVID-19.

Before COVID-19, there were two organizations at each table and all of the organizations would be at the event in one night.

Because the Fair was split into two nights, the Organizational Development Team tried to categorize organizations together for the convenience of attending students. Some of the categories were academic and professional, fee-based and sports organizations.

Some categories are larger than others, with the academic and professional organizations category being the largest, and other smaller categories being minimal, such as service organizations having only around seven tables, Smith said.

There were about 135 organizations signed up for the Activities Fair. In total, there are around 230 active chartered organizations on campus.

A scavenger hunt took place during the Activities Fair, which aimed to increase attendance and interest in the event, Lucah McCullough, Union and Involvement engagement coordinator said. The scavenger hunt was called “find your bunch” and students would go around to different organizations to get a password. They would then be entered to win a giveaway. The scavenger hunt was fruit themed, so each password was a kind of fruit. The prizes were baskets filled with $40 worth of items that included bullet journal notebooks, pens, a pencil bag and socks that were all fruit themed.

There were also some small items given away at the entrance to the event, such as highlighters, stickers and windshield ice scrapers. 

Mika Zans, the president of Prism, the social pride organization on campus, said the majority of the members of their organization joined from the Activities Fair.