SPLASH, a carnival-style introduction to extracurricular opportunities at Boston University, showcased hundreds of clubs and organizations on Nickerson Field Sunday, returning to its West Campus location after being held at a different place last year.
In 2013, the annual student activities fair was held at Cummington Mall, but in response to feedback from the student body, the Student Activities Organization returned SPLASH to its original location at Nickerson Field.
“There’s no big mystery about the change back to Nickerson,” said SAO’s Associate Director Raul Fernandez. “We got feedback that students preferred the more open spaces afforded by Nickerson, and we listened.”
Fernandez said along with a few other changes, including additional activities and snacks, SPLASH’s return to Nickerson would help to ensure that students had a positive experience.
“We think we’ve created a more festive experience in years past, as well as one that’s easier to navigate,” he said.
Representative members of club sport programs, student dance groups, service organizations, student-run publications and several other extracurricular clubs were represented at SPLASH.
“We’re excited for student feedback, since that’s the best determination of an event’s success,” Fernandez said. “But from our perspective, we’re really pleased with the energy and engagement that student groups brought to SPLASH.”
Several club and organization leaders said they preferred SPLASH’s Nickerson location to that of Cummington Mall.
“It’s definitely a lot more spacious,” said School of Education sophomore Emily Hurd, a copy editor at BU Culture Shock. “There’s more room to move around and see everything without feeling claustrophobic, so hopefully we will be able to reach out to some more people and some more first year students.”
Grace Stauffer, vice president of the Dance Theatre Group and a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said SAO improved SPLASH by better organizing and advertising the fair than in 2013.
“This location is so much better,” she said. “Last year at Cummington, no one could get around or anything. They didn’t do any advertising for it, and they didn’t announce it. They had SPLASH at Nickerson my freshman year, and I actually like the layout this year better than my freshman year. It’s a lot easier to navigate with all of the color-coding.”
As they navigated SPLASH’s sea of tents and student leaders for the first time, freshmen Hannah Everett in SED, Makenna Kobrin in CAS and Emily Brown in the College of General Studies said they are looking forward to becoming involved in different student organizations on campus.
“SPLASH is definitely a crazy event. It’s a lot of fun and very, very hectic,” Everett said. “It is exciting to know that this many people are interested in so many different things and that you’ll be able to find something you like somewhere.”
Kobrin said she wants to get involved in some of the dance groups on campus and Hillel.
“SPLASH is really cool, and it seems like a great way to get involved in all of the different activities on campus,” she said. “It’s awesome that there is so much variety, because there will definitely be at least one thing that you will become involved with if not many, many more.”
Brown said SPLASH presents freshmen with a multitude of different opportunities to take advantage of.
“I’m looking at Hillel, HTC [the Howard Thurman Center], the Community Service Center and possibly Sustainability,” she said. “It’s really awesome because you’ll find at least one person that really resonates with you and that you’ll be able to meet and find similar interests with.”
