Students Crowd Club Interest Nights
fter a busy week adjusting to new classes and fresh faces, new and returning Exonians had the chance to explore the wide range of extracurricular opportunities offered by Exeter at the ESSO interest night and Club Night. Over 200 booths filled Grainger Auditorium this past weekend as excited co-heads frantically waved signs, handed out fistfuls of candy, collected email addresses and advertised their clubs, ranging from ESSO Quidditch to Model United Nations.
ESSO Interest Night was held on Friday evening and showcased the 56 student-run social service clubs under the Exeter Student Service Organization (ESSO) umbrella this year. “There are a lot of people who want to help, but they don’t know how,” upper Matt Kang, who spent the evening promoting ESSO Beach Clean Up, said. “[ESSO Interest Night] is a great way to show people what opportunities are out there.”
From serving the homeless in the Salvation Army to teaching local children how to swim, ESSO allows every Exonian to make an impact in both the local and global community. “It’s so easy to get sucked into the grind of going to classes and doing homework. I think it’s because of our busy schedules that we should take the time to look beyond ourselves. ESSO is there to remind us that we’re really, really lucky and that there’s always more we can do to give back,” upper and ESSO board member Jenny Yang said.
The ESSO board employed a new method of organizing student signups this year. Instead of registering for the full year, students were asked to make their club selections for the term. This was done through an online form, as opposed to previous years when students had to sign up for ESSO clubs at Interest Night, causing many to join more clubs than they had time to attend. “It’s really good to go, meet people and see what the clubs are about, but it gets a little chaotic when you’re signing up for so many,” upper Caitlin McGinty commented. “I didn’t want to say I was going to do something and have to pull out at the last minute. The electronic signups definitely made it very easy.” upper Peter Tuchler, a co-head of ESSO Swimming Buddies, agreed, saying that the event “ran as smoothly as possible.”
The remaining 157 non-social service clubs on campus were displayed the following evening. New lower Justin Li expressed his excitement about his first Exeter Club Night. “I think it’s so cool to see how many clubs there are at Exeter and how different each and every one is,” he commented. He described the atmosphere to be “a little bit overwhelming,” however, and believed the night could have been more successful if different grades had attended at different times to reduce the noise level and the number of people overcrowding the room.
Senior Jamie Demopoulos believed some adjustments could be made to the spacing of club booths in Grainger Auditorium as well. “I suggest that they don’t put clubs behind the fish tank. I think a few clubs struggled with sign ups because people didn’t know to go back there,” he said, elaborating on how the placement of a booth could affect a club’s success at Club Night.
In spite of these suggestions, Demopoulos voiced his praise of the event, saying Club Night was “very well organized this year.” Getting involved in numerous clubs across numerous fields is an essential part of the Exeter experience for many Exonians, and the vast number of people and clubs at the event as well as its festive atmosphere served as a clear testimony of this.
Several Exonians expressed their appreciation for the diverse offerings. “I usually try to walk around to all of the tables. I make sure to sign up for clubs that I did last year, but I also look for new clubs to join,” Demopoulos said. McGinty noted that her extracurricular commitments had reconnected her with old passions whilst also introducing her to new ones.“A lot of my friends have been in dance groups in the past like Imani and Precision and I’ve always wanted to try some of them,” she commented. “And EAR was playing a song that I used to play when I was younger with my old group. I knew I had to go for it.”
Senior Chi-Chi Ikpeazu detailed the many benefits of being involved in clubs at Exeter. “I participate in clubs because I know I’ll get to do something I’m interested in during the week, bond with club mates, and meet Exonians with whom I wouldn’t have otherwise interacted,” she said. “Aside from enhancing college applications, Exonians should make time for clubs because they can get your mind off of school work and, since there are so many here, you’re bound to find at least two that interest you.”