Running A Booth at the Involvement Fair

When I volunteered to become the president of the Carleton Anime Society the spring of my freshman year, I had no idea what that meant. My first year of presidency was when everything was online and everyone communicated through email or Zoom. This school year, I was physically representing the club in person, which was super nerve-wracking.

In-Person vs. Virtual

Last school year, all club activities were done online. That meant:

• Voting through Google Forms
• Streaming anime episodes through Zoom
• Screen-sharing throughout the entirety of a club meeting

I did enjoy watching anime with others, but that also meant more time spent on a laptop when all of my classes and meetings were online (my eyes were definitely tired by the end of the day).

To attract new club members to the first meeting, I sent out a campus announcement* letting people know that we were having our first meeting on Thursday and that I am the person to contact if they had any questions or wanted to join the club. Guess what? Not trying to brag, but we got 30 emails from students asking to join the club. Since it was my first term as president, this made me very excited for the first meeting.

*Campus announcements are an easy way to get information out to the entire student body. They are essentially a bunch of emails that get sent out to everyone every Sunday and Wednesday night.

This school year, recruiting was a bit different. Yes, I could still send campus announcements to attract new club members, but the club fair was a sure-fire way for me to convince students to join.

(“Do you like anime? Well, we like it too! Join the anime club!”)

Instead of receiving an email from me with a smiling profile picture, interested students can see me in person, welcoming them to the club and encouraging them to come to meetings.

The Mood

Not only was the weather beautiful outside, but I also got to enjoy the breeze (along with mosquitos who didn’t mind their own business). Seeing all those students around the Bald Spot (a field of grass in the middle of campus) looked surreal to me. I was on campus last year, but due to everything that was happening in the world, some students decided to stay home and take classes virtually.

Now that everyone is required to be on campus, there seems to be an endless amount of people! Different booths were blasting music (might I add, great music) and the mood just seemed… happy. I am a bit sad that this experience was just not possible last year, but at least I got to do it this year!

There are so many clubs on campus! Check them out!

• Club Listing: https://apps.carleton.edu/life/orgs/
• Club Listing with Description: https://apps.carleton.edu/student/orgs/

Chisom is a junior Computer Science major, prospective Japanese and Educational Studies minor from Houston, TX, and Little Rock, AR. While struggling through classes, Chisom sends out weekly emails to the Anime Club (since she’s the president), listens to KPOP, and takes pictures around campus (especially during the fall). Chisom enjoys hanging out with her friends, learning about other cultures, and crafting. Meet the other bloggers!