Freshman weaved through the auxiliary gym, where each wall was lined with booths and the room was bustling. There were loud upperclassman cheering and chanting their clubs’ message and the school fight song to display their Tiger Pride.

This new tradition began to showcase the many clubs available for students to join on Aug. 27 during SMART period booths were set up and manned by their upperclassmen members. Their goal was to attract the attention and interest of the new underclassmen to encourage them to attend their meetings. Who passed out flyers, candy, and other mementos.

Freshman Jolie Palmer said that book club, film club, animal rescue club, and the planner club were a few of the clubs that stood out to her at the fair.

“Something I wished [the others] had been bigger signs. Sometimes I wouldn’t know what the club was,” Palmer says.

Palmer added that the upperclassman running the booths were either standing in front of their signs or had no handouts, which made it hard to tell what each booth was for. The clubs who lacked paper handouts were overshadowed by those who did. With the constant flow of people, it was easy for the students to get separated from their classes and many students did not have time to stop at every booth.

Overall, Palmer said that she and her classmates were impressed by the event and found it to be helpful when trying to find new ways to get involved in the school.

“To have that explanation for the freshman, and for them to find a club that they like is really cool,” Key Club president senior Jason Nguyen said.

Although the Key Club callout meeting was before the event, Nguyen feels that because of the club fair, underclassman involvement will increase this year. Other clubs have already noticed an increase in underclassman attendance at callout meetings since the club fair, including the Riley Dance Marathon committee and Student Government.

As a recommendation for next year, Nguyen suggests that the CCA would be a better, more open, location for this event in order to give students the opportunity to stop and learn more about clubs that specifically interest them.

“There are some kids who just come to school and they go home, that’s it,” Nguyen said. “With this, it gives them more opportunity, and hopefully, they might start their own clubs as well.”