At the Wildcat Days activities fair Monday, campus groups started recruiting new members early, while prospective Northwestern students explored interests ranging from the NU Sailing Team to NU Hillel.

As part of the Wildcat Days programming for recently admitted prospective students, various student organizations set up booths in the Norris University Center Louis Room and tried to spark interest in their groups as well as talk about life at NU. The annual Wildcat Days began Monday and will continue on April 19 and April 26. All of the events in the afternoon Wildcat Days schedule were optional, but many students and their parents chose to attend.

Prospective student Mark Egger from Huntington, N.Y., said he attended the event because he plans on getting involved at whatever college he chooses, either NU or Duke University.

“There was a wide variety of different groups at the fair, and I really liked that,” Egger said. “Everyone was really approachable and helpful.”

For most of the student groups, the primary goal was to generate interest in their organization. Lauren Maginity, NU Marching Band’s representative, said the group was hoping to gather students for the upcoming marching band season.

“We’re a fall organization, and we start in the summer, so we really need to start recruiting now,” the Weinberg senior said.

Members of NUMB played a few songs at the fair, and Maginity said their performance was meant also spark interest in the band.

Prospective student Mickey Jiang said his favorite part of the activities fair was the NUMB performance.

“I heard them playing and noticed that the room was very loud and vibrant, so it made me come and check it out,” said Jiang, a high school senior from New Hampshire.

Liz Trumbull, a prospective student from Elmhurst, Ill., said she was overwhelmed by the number of people at the fair. Though she came hoping to talk to members of the Society of Women Engineers, she said she couldn’t find the group at the fair.

“It’s crazy, there were a lot of groups and so many people,” she said.

Aside from generating interest for their specific organization, some student group members also wanted to persuade prospective students to come to NU.

“We’re hoping to give them a sense of community unique not just to our group but NU in general,” said Weinberg sophomore Michael Yang, head delegate for NU Model United Nations.

Medill freshman Troy Quezada, member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, said he also hoped to influence prospective students. Quezada said his experience when he came to Wildcat Days last year helped him decide to attend NU, and he hoped to help other students this year.

“(Wildcat Days) made me see the wide range of opportunities I had if I came here, so I want to be able to pass on that knowledge to prospective students,” he said.[email protected]