Creating spaces

After a week of navigating campus and braving communal bathrooms, first-years students were  rewarded with a quintessential UD experience: Up the Orgs, a fair featuring more than 200 student organizations, held on the first Friday of the academic year. 

Colorful booths, blaring music and hundreds of bright-eyed survivors of fall semester’s first week filled the Central Mall for this year’s event. From curious first-years to seniors serving as presidents, UD’s student body came together to celebrate campus involvement. 

Up the Orgs showcases more than 200 extracurricular groups, offering groups quite literally from A (Accounting Club) to Z (Zeta Tau Alpha). Student organizations offer it all – academic enrichment through honors societies, community engagement through service groups or just plain fun through special-interest clubs. 

And if, by chance, a student cannot find the right fit for them, they can create it.

Ashley Williams, a senior biology major, formed the Biological Research Club which will launch this fall.

“I’m hoping it will add to the research experience of students by giving them additional practice in a low-stress environment,” she said. Williams also serves as president of the UD Chapter of the National Biological Honors Society. 

First-year Thomas Smithe, a health science major, approached Williams’ table.

“I hope to join a bunch of different clubs. I'm excited to make a lot more friends,” said Smithe.  “Professionally, going past graduation, it'll help you be ready for what's next.”

In addition to academic peer interests, some students focus on organizations that have a firm service mission. Morgan Bergeron, a junior psychology major, is a member of Letters of Love, an organization which sends handmade cards to children battling illness.

“My younger sister actually had cancer when she was younger,” Bergeron said. “Little things like [letters] make the day so much easier during such a hard time.” 

As students milled across the green and chattered happily about new opportunities, the message was clear — there’s a place for everyone at UD.