Tables complete with colorful posters, sign-up sheets and candy lined the Louis Room in Norris University Center Wednesday as students promoted their clubs. Over 100 student organizations were present at Northwestern’s quarterly club fair, representing everything from identity-focused clubs to volunteer organizations to pre-professional programs.
Weinberg junior Alianna Taitano stood in front of a poster covered in pictures of smiling children in chef’s hats. She was promoting NU MiniChefz, a volunteer organization dedicated to teaching cooking and nutrition basics to both NU students and youth in Evanston and Rogers Park.
Groups travel to different elementary schools and community centers to cook with the students. Taitano is the recipe and inventory executive for MiniChefz, meaning she shops for ingredients and supplies. She said club members have made hot chocolate, pasta and cookies with kids.
“Anything where they’re allowed to do their own thing, they go crazy and it’s so adorable,” Taitano said. “We did fruit tarts and they just got so excited about being able to decorate it their own way or cut it up and put whatever fruit they wanted on it.”
With a volunteering requirement of about three visits a quarter, Taitano said the club is low-commitment, but high reward.
Dance and performance groups also advertised their clubs at Wednesday’s fair. Communications junior Denise Sanchez is the president of Ballet Fólklorico, a club dedicated to cultural Mexican dances from different regions.
Their weekly rehearsals culminate in a big spring show at the end of each year, Sanchez said. She added that the group holds bonding events throughout the year, offering dancers a community.
“I met a lot of my friends through Ballet Fólklorico,” Sanchez said. “It was the first time I felt at home at Northwestern, because coming to like a (predominantly white institution) was not the easiest thing. So it helped me become really comfortable and meet people here that are like me.”
Weinberg sophomore Leslie Gonzalez-Flores, the talent development and outreach chair for Ballet Folklorico, said the club was her first introduction to the Latino community at NU.
She said Ballet Fólklorico is a great way for students to get in touch with their culture. Or, to simply learn more.
“It was the first time I saw students who had a similar cultural background as me on campus, and I just really like how welcoming and supportive it is,” Gonzalez-Flores said.
Bienen sophomore Orly Lindner promoted her club, Cats who Compost, at the fair Wednesday. The club focuses on improving sustainable processes on campus.
“It’s been really great to get involved in a hands-on kind of project and program-focused club,” Lindner said.
She said the club hosted a sustainability ball last quarter, and by the end of the night there was almost zero waste from the entire event. She added that the ball was affordable.
Weinberg sophomore Rebecca Chen advertised the Hospice Patient Care Club, which allows NU students on the pre-medical track to provide comfort to hospice patients and their families.
Chen said her experience volunteering in hospice reaffirmed her interest in health care.
“Obviously, this is a very sensitive time for these patients and by being with them during these difficult times, we can provide a little bit of hope and a little bit of comfort,” Chen said. “As a physician, one of the main things that you’re concerned with is confronting death, which is also a difficult topic. In these hospices, they think of death not in a very sad and desperate way, but as a celebration of life.”
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