[dropcap]T[/dropcap]his year’s clubs and societies signups are expected to rise above last year’s combined number of 17,500 students, a senior DCU clubs and societies figure stated.
The final registration of all members for clubs and societies is next week so no definitive number can be released at this time, but so far there are 5500 members for societies and over 2000 members for clubs. “That’s going to jump big time by next week,” Finance Officer of Clubs and Societies Siobhan Byrne said about the figures.
“The Saint Patrick.s Campus this year was mental, but it was a good mental,” Byrne also said. Many new societies have been announced such as Food and Fitness, Vegain, HerCampus and a few others. The clubs and societies fair is a brilliant way for these new, establishing societies and clubs to gain new members and attraction.
HerCampus society, a start-up society gained roughly 60 members from this event alone. “As a new society we were really happy with our first ever clubs and societies fair. We gained a lot of new members from the event,” Chair Rachael Martin stated.
Similarly, the Vegain society, which is another new society, received about 30 new sign-ups. “The fair is a great way to meet people and is always fun,” Chair and founder Kate Sutherland said.
Food and Fitness society signed up 130 members during the fair. “As a relatively new society we were delighted with the number of signups we got. We’re very excited for our upcoming events and setting a high standard for the year,” Secretary Carmel Kenny said.
Well-established societies also gain many new members each year through the fair. This year, the Multimedia Production Society signed up 500 members. “It’s just through word of mouth, by keeping up FM standards, by trying to consistently keep the name out there like with all the attention from the broadcast,” Chair Billy Keenan advised.
Accounting and Finance received “a record new number of members this year,” signing up roughly 2000 students, welfare officer Dillon Ward said.
“A massive boost to our numbers was our mystery tour at the start of the year. No other clubs and society event happened before that. We were the first to do that” said Ward.
Next year’s clubs and societies fair will be during week two, in the Glasnevin Campus on Monday and Tuesday and in Sain Patrick’s Campus on Wednesday, according to Byrne.
Aine Conaty