On Oct. 18, ETSU’s Adult, Commuter and Transfer Services hosted the first ever Campus Services Fair – an event that featured booths from roughly 20 campus organizations handing out information, answering questions and giving away novelty items.
While similar events have been hosted by ACTS, this was the first to be labeled as a Campus Services Fair. People from organizations across ETSU set up booths to help make students aware that these organizations are available to them on campus. Campus security, counseling services, the financial aid office, health services and a multitude of others were set up in the Quad on campus from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
”The goal for the Counseling Center when we come to these events is to make students aware of the resources they have on campus as far as mental health is concerned,” said Melissa Tucker with the Counseling Center. “We also have different groups on campus that focus on different things such as Oasis (sexual information advocacy,) Alcohol and Other Drugs, and Thrive (suicide and violence prevention).”
The Counseling Center’s main goal was to bring awareness to not only their availability – it is open five days a week – but also the fact that counseling services are free to students.
Campus Recreation also had a similar goal, hoping to raise awareness to all that Campus Rec offers.
“I think it’s important that we get out here and put a face to our programs,” said Don Conner, Assistant Director of Sport Programs. “And we get to build a relationship with the students by coming out here, so I think it’s vital we come out here and try to promote our programs.”
The event itself was hosted by ACTS in an effort to help bring awareness to adult, commuter and transfer students about everything ETSU has to offer on campus.
”I think it’s really important [to have these events] because students often tell us and other offices that ‘I wish we knew you were here,’” said Carla Warner, director of ACTS.
Warner also noted that events like this aren’t necessarily difficult to plan, or expensive, it’s just a matter of finding a date that works for everyone involved. The day picked, a Thursday, wasn’t by accident either. Thursday earlier in the fall semester mean the ETSU Farmers Market also would coincide, something ACTS hoped would naturally bring more students by the booths. It also happened to be National Transfer Student week.
“We thought ‘Thursday, take advantage of the natural flow of students that check out the Farmers Market,’ and I think it worked really well and it was a good idea,” Warner said.
While there’s no concrete plans for the next Campus Services Fair, Warner said she hoped to have another one in the Spring, though they’ll have to get through their upcoming event schedule before jumping into planning the next open. Following the conclusion of their first Campus Services Fair, ACTS turned its attention to their next big event – Ziplining and S’mores on Oct. 29 from 7-10 p.m. at the CPA Outdoor Adventure Course.
“It’s really about trying to find different things, events and activities that we can do to get the commuter students back to campus and make them feel like they’re a part of ETSU,” said Jennifer Rice, Assistant Director of ACTS.
