Sparticipation gives clubs chance to recruit

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Cheerleaders, Marine Corps recruiters and underwater hockey club members sporting swimsuits and sunglasses gathered Tuesday with other student group representatives to give new and returning students a feel for about 350 registered campus student organizations during Sparticipation.

The event was part of the Fall Welcome Spartan Spectacular, which ran from 4-10 p.m. at Munn Field and also featured a cookout-style dinner, pep rally and fireworks show.

“It’s an opportunity for students to really feel good about being a Spartan and launch off into classes on Wednesday morning,” said Fred Watson, assistant director of Student Life.

Beforehand, Watson estimated 8,000 to 10,000 students would attend Sparticipation, which he said he hoped would include the majority of the 7,200 to 7,300 new students on campus.

The event serves as one of the major recruiting opportunities for student organizations to bring in new members and featured free food, music and giveaways. Residence halls were closed for dinner during the Spectacular, Watson said.

“Sparticipation is a student organization fair for the most part, but it also gives an opportunity for new students, returning students, local businesses and some university departments to interact with each other and the community,” Watson said.

Zach Nachazel, an arts and humanities senior and member of the Triathlon Team, was one of several team members who rode stationary bikes and handed out flyers.

“Last year, we easily had 30 or 40 people that came and checked out our club and signed up for our e-mail list,” Nachazel said. “This year, we’ve already had more than that which is great.”

Chemical engineering freshman Adam Wingate used the event to talk to members from the triathlon, water polo and several community service clubs that he had looked into before he got on campus.

“I’d seen some things online about different clubs I was interested in,” Wingate said. “We’re on a campus with 47,000 people, so I figure we have to have a big club rush like this.”

Most of the clubs had booths with flyers and meeting information and several set up games and demonstrations to attract people to stop by. A group from the Marine Corps set up a Pull-Up Challenge bar and had given away 100 free shirts by 6 p.m. to people who completed 20 pull-ups.

“The great thing about Sparticipation is it allows all different student groups to generate some positive exposure with students,” said Marine Corps Capt. Adam Lindberg. “There are lots of great officer candidates that came through this school looking to challenge themselves while working toward a degree.”

The Spartan Spirit pep rally began at 8:15 p.m. featuring football head coach Mark Dantanio, men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo and several MSU athletes. A fireworks display followed at dusk.

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