By STEVEN ADAMS

News Reporter

The Student Activities Office hosted the second annual Winter Involvement Fair on Wednesday in the Skutt Student Center Ballroom.

The fair featured over 50 campus organizations and departments that were looking for opportunities to recruit new members.

Katie Wadas, the assistant director of Student Activities, was one of the event organizers.

Wadas said the Winter Involvement Fair has fewer tables than the Fall Involvement Fair, but is still useful for both students and organizations.

“We got a lot of positive feedback last year from student organizations that they were able to reach out to students,” Wadas said.

The event was also an opportunity for new clubs to present what they have to offer and recruit new members without having to wait for the fair in the fall.

Some of the new organizations on campus are the Car Club, Chess Club, Face AIDS, Graduate Student Government, Jiu Jitsu and Grappling Club and NETwork Against Malaria.

Isamu Kishi, Arts & Sciences freshman and president of the Car Club, said the focus of the club is to discuss cars and their maintenance, but he also hopes the club will educate people on defensive and performance driving.

“It’s open to anyone, guys or girls,” Kishi said. “Open to anyone with or without a car who is interested in cars and wants to meet people with the same interests.”

Another organization new to Creighton is Face AIDS. Face AIDS, a national organization, has recruited over 150 chapters at campuses around the United States.

The club sells beaded AIDS pins made by men and women who are directly affected by AIDS in nations such as Zambia and Rwanda as one of their key fundraising tools.

The pin sales are matched by foundations and corporations and the proceeds go directly to resources for those affected by AIDS.

Leslie Murray, an Arts & Sciences sophomore and treasurer of Face AIDS, said the organization focuses on educating individuals that are impacted by AIDS.

“One of the biggest differences between Face AIDS and other AIDS organizations is that Face AIDS focuses on directly educating and training local people how to sustain their own medical treatments,” Murray said.

Also at the fair was a booth representing the newly founded Graduate Student Government representative group of the Creighton Student Union.

Alicia Bryan, a second-year Graduate Student and a government president of the Graduate Student Government, provided information to students about the club’s mission to represent the university’s graduate students and allow their voices to be heard.

“We’re trying to establish a sense of community within the graduate schools since we’re all over campus,” Bryan said. “We want to make sure the graduate students know we’re here for them.”

Wadas said it is beneficial to get involved and encourages students to join at least one organization or club on campus.

“We have research that shows that when students are attached or have some sort of connection with a group on campus that they’re more likely to find a home on campus, they’re more likely to do better academically,” Wadas said.

“To really get the full college experience, students should really get involved with something outside the classroom setting.”

If students were not able to attend Wednesday’s event, the Student Activities Office has a link on their Web page with a list of all the clubs, organizations and departments on campus, as well as contact information for the leaders and presidents of each group.