On August 28, Sage Hill continued its tradition of the annual Club Fair in an unconventional fashion. Instead of students going to booths and interacting with the club or team leaders, Zoom calls the entirety of the “fair,” which was re-branded the Back to School Co-Curricular Fair. This change, however, was a welcome one since the club fair was claimed to be very normal and exciting for students. 

Before the fair began, there were definitely some concerns from students about the interaction between club leaders and other students. 

Jeffrey Gao, a senior who led the presentations for the National History Day Club, the Debate Team, and the Model United Nations team said, “It allows easier access to more information, but it loses a bit of the personal elements that in-person club fairs had.” 

However, these concerns were quickly extinguished as the benefits of a virtual club fair emerged. From the leaders’ points of view, it was definitely more versatile and unique than a physical club fair.

Junior Alexis Kim, the co-leader of Service Through Reading, said that “[The leaders] were able to have longer interactions with the students because it was not as chaotic as the physical club fair.” 

“I particularly enjoyed the ability to have presentations and infographics during the club fair. I think it adds to the formality of the fair,” Gao added.

But what about the club visitors? Their opinions on the club fair were also very positive. 

Junior Jack Gao went to many interest meetings, such as the Model United Nations team, the Debate Team, the Math Club, and others. 

“I like it. I would have never bothered to walk to the Math Club meeting but joined because it only involves clicking on one button. Overall, it is more convenient online,” he said. 

 Because of the new online format, students have more time and opportunity to go to any of the meetings they wanted to visit. During the physical club fair, it was always very chaotic and students did not know where to go for the meetings, but the online format has made it more organized and convenient.

In this time of uncertainty, it is always good to think about the future. Will there be another virtual club fair next year? According to the students, if there is one, there should definitely be some improvements. 

“The club fair could be better served by breaking it down into smaller 5-to 10-minute sessions, so the clubs have more of an opportunity to introduce [themselves],” Jeffrey Gao said. 

After their first virtual club fair experience, there were suggestions of adding specific time slots for each club so that it could be more organized and simple. There were some instances where the leaders had to restart their presentations all over again every single time someone joined, which was troublesome.

All in all, the change from a physical to a virtual club fair was smooth and successful. The potential future of this new format is unknown, but it definitely looks promising as a temporary replacement for its physical counterpart.

A second Club Fair was also held on Friday, September 25 in the same Zoom format.