A Fair on the Beach!

On Friday, September 3 at 3:30 p.m. on Parrish Beach, Swarthmore students kicked off their first in-person Student Activities Fair since before the COVID-19 pandemic over a year ago. 

A festive end to the first week of classes on campus, the fair brimmed with students perusing stands, signing interest forms, and engaging with club and organization representatives until 5:30 p.m. when the fair concluded. The fair boasted 135 clubs and organizations in attendance, ranging from Warmothers Ultimate Frisbee to 180 Degrees Consulting. 

The Student Activities Fair is an annual tradition at the college typically occurring within the first few weeks of the Fall semester. In accordance with the prolonged transition to virtual learning over the past year and a half, however, the club fair was last held over Zoom in the beginning of February, 2021. Many clubs and organizations that relied on in-person interfaces were also dormant or less active during this time. 

Martina Kampel ’23 represented one such club, the Swarthmore Barbell Club, in which members learn about and train in Olympic-style weightlifting, at the fair. In an interview with The Phoenix, Kampel described her excitement to resume regular club activities. 

“Because of COVID, I had to work out by myself a lot, but working out with others creates an encouraging environment in which we can achieve new heights together. I am so excited to recruit new members and share the journey with them,” she said.

In attending the fair, Dani Pena ’24 hoped to learn about the clubs and organizations, like Swarthmore Barbell Club, that were inactive this past year.

“[I came to the fair because I was] interested to see all the clubs that Swarthmore has to offer. I know that last year … a lot of the clubs were dormant so I wanted to see what we have,”

she said in an interview with The Phoenix. 

While Pena attended the fair to learn about Swarthmore’s club opportunities, Noah Martinez ’23 was particularly interested in clubs that aligned with his career interests. 

“I’m really looking at pre-med clubs. I’m interested in pursuing networking opportunities within my career field as well as a supportive extracurricular environment outside of academics,” 

he said in an interview with The Phoenix. 

Ana Michels ’23 expressed to The Phoenix that she was happy to reconnect with fellow students at the fair. 

“It has been a year of feeling disconnected and it was exciting to see all the different possibilities through which I can connect with my fellow Swatties. The snacks were great, too,” said Michels. 

While fair attendees seemed excited to learn about the clubs and organizations available to them, club representatives were equally excited to meet students and attract new members to their clubs. 

Member and one of three representatives at the fair for Grapevine, Swarthmore’s non-male acapella group, Andie Kapiloff ’23 especially enjoyed speaking with and meeting interested students.

“We have had a lot of people walking by. We have had a few people sign up [and that] has been really exciting,” she said in an interview with The Phoenix.

In order to participate in last week’s fair, interested clubs and organizations filled out a Google Form sent by Director of Student Activities Andrew Barclay to the Swarthmore community on August 26. Provided that the form was submitted before the September 2 deadline, students then received an email confirming their submission and assigning a space in which to set up their tables and posters or to simply stand.

For Alexia Cuyoutas ’23, Head of Recruitment for the Swarthmore chapter of Consult Your Community, however, the registration process did not yield the expected results. While Cuyoutas signed up for the fair, she was not provided with a table and instead distributed pamphlets to students while standing in her assigned space. 

“I actually did not have a great experience setting up … today, because … I don’t have a 

table … even though I sent an email signing up,” she said in an interview with The Phoenix. 

Gidon Kaminer ’22, however, was impressed with Andrew Barclay’s and the Office of Student Engagement’s management of the fair. 

“Even with the massive number of clubs present at the fair, Andrew Barclay and the OSE crew handled the logistics remarkably smoothly, from the seamless registration process to the expansive table setup outside of Parrish,” he said. 

Despite her technical issues, Cuyoutas thoroughly enjoyed her experience at the fair. 

“I think that the energy [was] great [at the fair]. I think that everyone is very excited to join organizations and to be on campus … I’m very excited to start a new semester and get some new recruits,” she said. 

In addition to Cuyoutas and Kapiloff, club representatives Quinn Okabayashi ’23, Daniel Oakes ’24, and Guy Berreby ’23 all enjoyed connecting with fellow peers at the fair and look forward to welcoming new members to their clubs. 

Music playing and students chatting, the Student Activities Fair was just another sunny day at the beach. 

A complete list of the clubs in attendance can be found below: