Prefect Council hosted the Activities Fair completely online this year, showcasing all of the student-hosted clubs and offering sign-ups in the week of Sept. 14 to 18.
In past years, the Activities Fair took place on the Quad with tables and signs describing the wide variety of clubs that students could choose to join. Since the school is currently only offering classes and assemblies remotely due to COVID-19, the fair was another of many activities held online. Students had over 30 clubs to choose from, including affinity groups, Peer Support and hobby-based clubs such as cooking and chess.
There were also some new clubs added this year, including Plus One, a peer lead group designed to be a safe space for those who need it during quarantine. Founders include Jade Stanford ’22, Chronicle Assistant Features Editor Quincey Dern ’22 and Lola Cortez, ’22.
“It was difficult [to start a new club entirely online] because at the heart of persuasion – for me at least – is personal interaction,” Cortez said. “There’s just something different about face to face that hits home. The club is new, and it’s so so crucial to new clubs to be able to have that face to face. We worked around this challenge by using social media as a way to give notice to our club.”
As students did not get the opportunity to listen and get to know clubs in person, all club leaders were required to make a video describing their club’s purpose and the club’s plan for the year. Along with an interactive promotional video, many clubs also hosted Zoom question and answer panels so that interested students could have the change to learn more about the club and ask any questions they might have.
Cory Porter ’22, one of the four hosts of the Model United Nations (MUN) panel, said she enjoyed her experience on the Zoom.
“We had both a promo video and Q&A session, and it went great,” said Porter. “It was amazing to see how many people were interested in MUN, even in this super weird time, and I know that we’re going to have an amazing year, despite all of the circumstances.”
Students were able to sign up for clubs of their choice on a Google Forms link throughout the week. All club meetings will be held completely online until further notice.
