by Carmen Ruiz Fernandez

Students crowded around tables as music drifted through the University Quad on Sept. 11, where club leaders promoted their organizations at this semester’s Club Fair. 

With more than 100 active clubs each semester, from academic associations to cultural organizations and hobby groups, the fair showcased a wide range of opportunities available to students. 

According to Clubs and Student Activities Coordinator at the Office of Student Life Mary Lisa Wood, the objective of the Club Fair is to encourage all new and incoming students to explore the programs they offer.

“Students staying in school and completing their degree are really impacted by the sense of community and belonging that they feel on our campus when joining a club,” Wood said. “We’ve had students come back and say some of their lifelong friends were people they meet through the clubs that they’ve joined”

Clubs this semester spanned sports, religion, music, art, culture and leisure activities. The majority of them featured activities and projects designed to spark student creativity and introduce students to new interests.

  One of the standouts was Danza Azteca, a cultural organization that focuses on sharing indigenous dance through demonstrations. Their goal is to bring their traditions and medicine closer to the student body and community in Humboldt. 

Another remarkable club was the audio recording club, which provides a space for students who want to practice recording their instrument or even their band. They take pride in being the only club that has a studio accessible to students, where they can record and produce music, or just to learn more about audio equipment in general.

“I think students really appreciate having a free space to record their music or practice recording using an actual on-campus studio,” Gavin Kingsley, treasurer of the audio recording club, said. “I think it’s very valuable for musicians or audio engineers to have the space to do that.”

Also standing out for its creativity was the circus club. They describe themselves as the most colorful club on campus, a place to let go and be your full silly, goofy self without restrictions or hold-backs. Cal Parr, a member of the group, explained how the club’s weekly ‘playtime’ helps students de-stress and reset.

“A lot of students really need a break from the very structured academic mindset, which I feel like play time, which is what we do every Friday, is really about taking away that stress,” Parr said. “It helps to just give yourself a breath of fresh air from that. That really helps the student community, just like, have a good time and enjoy being here.” 

Daniel Gibson, a freshman mechanical engineering major, highlighted the importance of joining clubs and social activities during college years, as he believes it’s a great way to find community and make friends with shared interests.

“I definitely think being in a club makes you feel a lot more interconnected with everybody,” Gibson said. “Because if you’re just here on surface level, and you’re not really intertwined with any of the people, you don’t really feel like you’re meant to be here. But if you’re in a club, you have a group of friends that have the same interests as you, and I think it’s super cool that there’s an opportunity to find that here.”