To the many students new at the University of Pittsburgh, the Involvement Fair may very well seem like a skippable event. It takes place at the tailend of the infamous O-week — this year, on the Sunday before the first day of class at 1 p.m. — and it’s located at the top of the even more infamous Cardiac Hill. Even though dragging yourself up that hill in the end of August heat sounds — and is — brutal, it is so worth it to experience the magic of the club and activities fair. 

While the fair itself is a maze of tables, stale lollipops from who knows when and fellow Panthers asking for your signature, the significance of the event lies in what it could lead to. Pitt is home to over 500 student organizations, and odds are you’re not only going to be able to find something that interests you, but also make friends in the process. 

Whether you’re into Bhakati yoga, Cinema or Irish Dancing — all of which are real student organizations at Pitt — there is a club that will welcome you with open arms and provide an outlet where you can grow and discover new or old interests. Maybe you’re coming into college with the idea that you want to reinvent yourself and find your true passion in the process. Maybe the Retro Games Club @ Pitt catches your eye, and you discover your love for old-style games like Galaga. The possibilities are endless!

I can sit here and write pages about the many clubs I tried out in the process of finding what I consider to be the right ones — a student organization speed dating, if you will — and to me, that’s the magic of the club and activities fair. While for many of these clubs, I attended one meeting and called it a day, each one provided me with the opportunity to meet new friends and make new memories. 

While the Retro Games Club @ Pitt does seem interesting, I have personally found my niche here at The Pitt News as well as in the Pitt Rowing Club. Both of these incredible organizations are simply packed with talent, and the people I have been lucky enough to meet from these clubs are who I consider to be some of my closest friends. While I have always loved to write, when I came to college, I was not really envisioning that I would be spending a chunk of my week in a boat on the Allegheny. However, after signing up for the club on a whim and attending my first practice, I knew it was something I was simply going to have to pursue. 

Both of these clubs have shaped my college experience so far, and as cliche as it sounds, I can’t imagine what these past three years of undergrad would look like without them. This is not unique to The Pitt News or Rowing Club, however — each and every table at the fair has the potential to become a defining aspect of your college career. Keeping that in mind, I encourage you to grab your O-week friends — a topic that truthfully deserves its own column — put on a comfortable pair of shoes, and make the hike up to the Petersen Events Center.Tessa Powers loves the stale lollipops at the club and activities fair, and you can email her at [email protected] to discuss further.