CUNY York College flier for its zoom annual club fair | Photo by Flickr
By Pamela Garcia and Jeremiah Duffy
The month of October kicked off the first ever virtual York College Club Fair, featuring York club leaders presenting their clubs’ activities and a virtual DJ for students to enjoy music, just as they would during the non-COVID era.
York College President Berenecea Eanes checked in live online to greet guests and thank them for attending while noting the differences between this semester’s virtual club fair and the last one held on campus just days before the school closed earlier this year due to the pandemic.
“The most important thing you can do for York College at this time is be really active and empowered and figure out ways to engage virtually and support each other,” Eanes said.
The president reminded students that they can get updates on the school’s website as the college has transitioned from what she calls, “COVID crisis to COVID maintenance.” The president’s parting words were directed at student leaders, but stood as advice to all students this semester.
“What I really want you to do is exercise some urgency around whatever you want to do (and) seize the day and do not let nothing get in the way, not even COVID.”
A staple of York’s Club Fair is the music, which was provided courtesy of York’s radio station, YCRadio, with Brian Graves as DJ. While Graves kept the event upbeat, more students continued to join the meeting in anticipation for the college’s first ever online fair.
To better inform visitors, powerpoint slides were used to showcase activities clubs have to offer, along with their club hours and contact information where those interested in a particular club could reach a cabinet member.
Live questions were also taken by the event’s host, Club Council President Laura Dehkanov, who encouraged guests and club leaders to take advantage of the chat feature to discuss ideas and exchange information.
The first club to make a presentation was the Pre-Med club followed by the Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Science club.
President and founder of the Christian Association Club George Messoloras discussed that club’s purpose and goals, followed by the IMPACT Filipino Club, which produced a PowerPoint presentation filled with an introduction from each cabinet member, and a skit to explain what the club is about.
An interactive section showing members hanging out in the city showing the bonds created within the club was featured as well.
Shaikh Islam, who goes by the name of “Shake” is IMPACT’s Internal PR and shared that students do not have to be Filipino to be a part of the club.
“Take me for example, I am brown and I became Internal PR, we are an extremely fun club, and we are like family.”
