Upbeat music from the Black Student Association’s booth drew students to the middle of campus for the Student Organization Fair last week. The event on Thursday gave students the opportunity to view what campus has to offer for involvement.
The tables displayed organizations varying from sororities and student ministries to even the ROTC.
“My favorite thing about the campus here is we have the ability to fellowship together,” said Trevor Smith, the college and young adult pastor of C20 ministries. “I love the fact that C20 as a Christian organization can come here and be a part of this, along with the other amazing organizations.”
Many of the groups that set up had the primary goal of reaching and meeting new students.
Karen Schmeits, UNK mental health outreach and prevention coordinator, is starting her first year facilitating the student lead meetings for Lopes for Hope. She said she is looking forward to meeting the members and being able to see them spread awareness of mental health and suicide prevention throughout campus. Schmeits’ goal for the year is to provide a place where students have a sense of belonging.
Although most organizations had faculty advisors help represent at the fair, some were student-led like the Cultivate student organization.
“Cultivate is a business organization, but open to other majors,” said Jordan Schnell, a senior cybersecurity student. “We support small businesses and professional development.”
The organization has activities planned such as the Big Idea pitch tournament and interactive workshops that the group provides.
Cultivate wasn’t the only organization spreading the word about events in the future. Other groups had fliers passed out for students to stay in the know about organization activities on campus.
The UNK Film Club, consisting about 60 members, will present their double horror feature at the World Theatre downtown Kearney for Halloween. Which Seth Long, associate professor of English and faculty adviser of the Film club, was excited to tell students about.
“It’s just great to see students are still interested in film even in this era of TikTok,” said Long.
If students were unable to check out the fair, all organizations provided on campus are available on https://unk.presence.io/organizations. Students are free to see organization details, contact group leaders and join the groups through the resource. Organization events and activities are posted there as well for some groups who use the website regularly.
Photos by Shelby Berglund / Antelope Staff
