Involvement fair recruits students to organizations

In the midst of the IU Student Involvement Fair, the IU Billiards Club was nestled between tables for the Student Athletic Board and Young Americans for Liberty.

Senior Andrei Popa, president of the Billiards Club, stood behind the table, greeting passersby and handing out water bottles and raffle tickets for the pool cue that was the table’s centerpiece.

“We thought most of our audience isn’t going to have a pool cue,” he said. “So how do we get people to come to our meeting? They have to have an incentive. You come to the club. You get a pool cue. You’re ready to go.”

Popa said about 30 students currently belong to the club. Halfway through the fair, another 55 had signed up to attend the call-out meeting Sept. 13.

In 2009, the Billiards Club was not at the fair because it did not reserve a table in time. Popa said that motivated the members to work harder this year.

The club, which has two competitive pool teams, was using the fair to recruit new members and to advertise who exactly they were.

“People like playing pool because it’s a laid-back environment where you can come with your friends,” Popa said.

Between classes, freshman Preethi Manohar wandered through all the aisles at the fair.

“It’s a good idea to get freshmen better acquainted with the campus and meet new people,” Manohar said. “If there are specific groups of their heritage, they can network with those people or network with people who have similar interests.”

She said she had clubs, such as the Union Board, that she was planning to join, but looking at  the displays gave her ideas about more obscure clubs.

“I want to find out about more opportunities to get involved with the IU community but also around Bloomington itself,” Manohar said.

On the other side of the parking lot, the Kelley School of Business’ Deca Club attracted a lot of attention. An hour and a half into the fair, president and sophomore Artan Ferati said he estimated that 150 people had already signed up.

Although Deca, which provides its members with case competitions in which they construct a solution, is affiliated with Kelley, it is open to students of all majors.

Three other Deca officers, all dressed in business attire, were advertising the club with flyers.

Ferati said they were relying more on students’ prior knowledge of Deca than advertising it with free food.

“Events like this help us get in touch with all the new kids,” Ferati said. “It’s a good way for students to get involved with something other than school.”