Cheers echoed throughout the center of campus as students filtered through a crowd of posters at the Andover Community and Multicultural Development Office’s (CaMD) annual club rally. Various student-led clubs, affinity groups, and societies set up tables as part of CaMD to spread awareness about their organizations and attract prospective members.
At the core of the CaMD Club Fair were the student members and leaders of Andover’s clubs and affinity spaces. Emily Wu ’25, a board member of Asian Society, explained the role of her club and their goals at the Club Fair. Wu further encouraged students to explore their own identity and boundaries by signing up for affinity spaces, even if they didn’t have a high interest in committing to the club long-term.
“I’m a board member of Asian Society, [and] we were at the back [of the Club Fair] just making sure that everyone knows what Asian Society is and to make sure that everyone is on the email list. Asian Society is an affinity [group] with non-affinity events,” said Wu.
Charlotte Esty, Administrative Assistant for CaMD, expressed her vision for the Club Fair. Esty explained how the main goal of the Club Fair was to open up affinity and club communities for students making their way through campus and in need of a safe space. Esty added that, although some spaces at the CaMD Club Fair were only for affinity members, most organizations were open to all students to join.
“We asked all of our organizations to kind of prepare a poster and get their mission statements ready and to have some of their information out at their booths. We like to get things running pretty quickly in this office because transitions can be hard for new students, and a lot of what we do is provide safe, inclusive spaces for students on campus, so we want it to be really front-facing and accessible for new people or for returning people who haven’t been involved in CaMD. I know sometimes it’s hard to jump into new spaces and to clubs…and we wanted to kind of break that down and make it as easy as possible for people to get involved and ask questions and just learn more about some of what we do here,” said Esty.
Aquita Winslow, Dean of CaMD, provided her perspective on the Club Fair, describing how student societies and groups play a valuable role in giving students safe spaces on campus. Winslow pointed out how the Club Fair offered new students a chance to see aspects of their homes at Andover.
“I think that for some [clubs], they play a huge role on campus. AfLatAm [Afro Latine American Society] has a really long tradition and history. Groups like Alianza [Latina] put on huge events, GSA [Gender and Sexuality Alliance] puts on huge events, and MOSAIC is another long-standing club with the school. The idea is to bring in some of those cultural elements that I think are really important for students that may come from their own communities to help you feel like you haven’t really left home behind, that you brought a little bit of home here with you to Andover,” said Winslow.
Jay Jung ’27 spoke on his thoughts about the CaMD Club Fair, expressing how he enjoyed the atmosphere and took time to learn more about the various clubs on campus. Jung added how he enjoyed the focus on identity that Andover had, which he felt was missing at his previous school.
“[The CaMD Club Fair] was really loud and…vibrant, and [felt] more like a festival, an informal space. I really liked it. I [was] excited to see various clubs, [and] although I [couldn’t] join some because I’m not [affinity], I still [liked] the diverse community. It [was] a bit crowded, so it’d be better if it [were]…physically more spread [out], because I would have more opportunities to have conversations with board members in the clubs,” said Jung.
