The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

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"I think it's incredible. It's enormous," University President the Rev.,”Central Mall was livelier than usual Thursday afternoon as representatives from more than 200 student organizations lined the sidewalks inviting people to their information tables with fliers, giveaways and demonstrations.

"I think it's incredible. It's enormous," University President the Rev. Robert A. Wild said as he toured the tables. "I realized that nobody could ever go around to every one of the tables – there's just so many here."

With so many organizations vying for attention, some groups created colorful, eye-catching posters while others had demonstrations that seized student interest.

MU Racing brought one of its formula cars to the event, revving the engine to attract spectators to its table. Campus Crusade for Christ gave visitors a chance to win a T-shirt with a shot on the group's basketball hoop.

Behind the table for Marquette's club sports, two fencers dressed in white and wearing mesh masks dueled next to a handful of students playing a small Ultimate Frisbee game.

"O-Fest is a great word-of-mouth starter," said Pat Betcher, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences working the table for Ultimate Frisbee. "It's really just an opportunity to get a lot of new players on board and introduce them to the game."

Newer and lesser-known groups said they hope O-Fest brings more attention to their organizations.

Pure Dance Marquette, in its second year, came to O-Fest looking for new talent.

"We just started last year so not a whole lot of people know about us yet, so we just want to let people know there are more opportunities for dance at Marquette," said Sophia Anaganos, a sophomore in the School of Education.

Anaganos said it was tough to draw people's attention because many people don't know the difference between Pure Dance and the other dance organizations at Marquette. She said O-Fest helps group members get the word out and clarify exactly what they do.

Mardi Gras, an organization started last year to give aid to the Gulf Coast region, had a table to recruit more people for this year's trips.

"We were a new service organization last year and we had so much success and we wanted the new freshmen and a lot of people who didn't hear about us last year to give them a chance to be involved in the gulf region," said Stephanie Treffert, a junior in the College of Health Sciences.

Joseph Ladewski, a sophomore in the College of Health Sciences, said the entire event was very well organized. He pointed out the table arrangements for Greek life, service opportunities, athletic and ethnic groups.

With hundreds of organizations spanning many various interests, the layout of O-Fest helped students find the organizations they were most interested in joining.

"There really are some wonderful groups going on," Wild said.

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