The Jan. 26 Clubs and Activities Fair featured miniature horses, free bubble wands and other activities for students in attendance. The annual fair encourages students to join a club and engage with on-campus activities at the start of each semester.
“The goal is to showcase our vibrant campus community,” Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Student Activities, Involvement and Leadership NiQo Bullock said. “We have many different people from various walks of life that come and find this place as a home. The club fair is a chance to kind of see the different spaces [and] entities that we have on campus for different areas of interest.”
There are currently 280 clubs listed at Whitman College, and 129 of those clubs receive funding from the Associated Students of Whitman College (ASWC). Student clubs are able to gain funding from ASWC through affiliation with student government and submitting a budget request form, through which clubs can receive $10,000 or more to organize and host club activities.
Some student groups, however, like “Quarterlife“ and “Blue Moon“, have seen decreases in their ASWC-approved budgets. According to the 2024-2025 budget sheet, the 2024-25 budget saw a drop in approved budget requests compared to those of the previous year.
Despite changing budgets, Bullock emphasized that clubs remain active and eager to attract new members each semester.
“People have been innovative,” Bullock said. “[Club leaders are] thinking outside the box as to how people can pull their resources together and contribute to whatever best suits their current dynamics.”
In addition to approving and balancing budgets each year, ASWC also works to highlight student organizations on campus with their Student Development Committee. The committee organizes the Clubs and Activities Fair each semester, and announced the Spring 2026 fair by emailing the campus community and tabling at Cleveland Commons.
Yuki Nakashiba, Committee Chair of the Student Development Committee, views her role as a way to support other students each semester.
“We’re here to support each other,” Nakashiba said. “One form of that was just simply for us to pitch in and provide some support for the student activities spirit.”
The fair also included student organizations who were searching for volunteers in addition to full-time club members.
One such organization, the Power and Privilege Symposium, was on the lookout for student volunteers to help run the Symposium on Feb. 19. After the tabling at the activities fair, their team received 15 students signing up to volunteer during the Symposium.
“The fair did so much good for us because we got so many more volunteers because of it,” Power and Privilege Programming Co-Director Michelle Ann David said.
The Power and Privilege team was not the only group with a high turnout at the fair. Bullock also claimed that student attendance at the Fair this spring brought in more students than the Student Activities team was expecting.
“Typically, there is a smaller attendance in the following spring because of the weather, you have new year energy,” Bullock said. “But this year, it was actually an increase, relatively speaking, from one spring to the next. So, it had pretty good involvement.”
The clubs in attendance at the fair showcased a range of student interests — including the Whitman College Equestrian Club and the Whitman Consulting Group. As students consider on-campus clubs and activities, Nakashiba shared that these groups provide opportunities to learn outside the classroom.
“[The fair is] not just about interacting— sharing the resources,” Nakashiba said. “Of course, that’s a very nice thing as well, but also your own individual interests outside of academics are something that you can get from the clubs. I think that’s something that brings a lot of value to our campus outside just the standard lecture.”
The 2026 Spring Clubs and Activities Fair gave students the opportunity to learn more about new clubs and their roles on campus. Students can learn more about club events from the Whitman College Event Calendar and about clubs from their Involve page.
