Club Day has low turnout

ASG brings out the balloons, but forgets to tell students

Club+representatives+sit+at+tables+waiting+for+students+to+come+up+and+get+information+during+SJCCs+Fall+2017+Club+Day+Oct.+4.

Benjamin Castro

Club representatives sit at tables waiting for students to come up and get information during SJCC’s Fall 2017 Club Day Oct. 4.

Tammy Do, Times Staff

The Associated Student Government hosted Club Day, a notable kick off to student life every semester, on the Multidisciplinary lawn on Oct. 3.

The event was heavily populated with clubs, but sparsely populated with students not already affiliated with clubs groups. When the ASG began giving out free slices of Costco pizza, a crowd of students swarmed the tables, but quickly dispersed afterwards.

Part of the low attendance may have been because of the lack of communication concerning the scheduling of Club Day.

No announcement, event page or flyer appeared on the ASG’s Facebook, nor was the event mentioned on the ASG’s official page at the San Jose City College website.

“I think it was the timing maybe, the days … I don’t think (they publicized it at all),” Japanese club Nihon Kai member Ivan Vallarta said.

Additionally, there was some confusion surrounding the fact that the ASG had originally scheduled the event for Sept. 26, but then changed the date with less than a week of lead time.

ASG Vice President Cassandra Reyes said the event had been rescheduled to allow more clubs to recharter.

Staff at the information desk in the Student Services Center said they were not informed of the schedule change until the very morning of the original date, when they began receiving questions from students as to the location of Club Day.

Club representatives came out to introduce their clubs to the student body, share accomplishments, and promote future events. The Cosmetology club handed out flyers which elucidated their prices and promoted its Oct. 20 hair show.

Some participants were recruiting in order have enough members to charter their new clubs, such as the Chess Club.

Other, longer-established clubs, reiterated the continuity of their missions. Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanos de Aztlan (MEChA) distributed material highlighting its origins in the Migrant Farmworker Movement.

“The good thing that touched me was MEChA,” Mental Health Clients Association member Andrew Phelps said. “MEChA is the deepest, longest … most organized (group) that has built the entire movement inside the state.”