A variety of the registered student organizations will be available at the Student Involvement Fair being held in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The event will take place in both the University Ballroom and the Grand Ballroom.

Claude Abdoulaye-Pedila, the student body vice president of student affairs, said the event promises a large turnout of RSOs for students to become involved in on campus. 

Greek life organizations, as well as other social groups will be on the search for new recruits. 

“Basically, all of the different RSO’s on campus have a chance to showcase their organizations and get new students on campus to join their organization to build it to whatever they are interested in,” Abdoulaye-Pedila said.

Previously known as “Pantherpalooza,” Abdoulaye-Pedila said the name change came from a partnership with the Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteerism.

“We thought that since we’re doing a co-sponsorship it was time to change the name of it,” she said.

Abdoulaye-Pedila said the biannual event is more popular in the fall, but she expects a good turnout. 

“We get more of a turnout in the fall time because that’s when all of the new students come in,” she said. “The Spring one is sometimes more for transfers, so I’m expecting more transfer students.”

Abdoulaye-Pedila said there will be a few new things added to the event this semester.

“We did things a little different than in the past couple years that we’ve been having this,” she said. “Tomorrow we’ll have a sundae bar, popcorn and door prizes for people to be able to win. All they have to do is be very active on our social media pages and be on the lookout for that.”

The refreshments will be available in the Bridge Lounge, Abdoulaye-Pedila said, and they will be offered on a first-come-first-serve basis. Door prizes will be given out to those who are active on Student Government’s social media pages.

Student Government’s social media pages can be found on both Twitter and Instagram by searching, “eiustudentgov.”

The event is important because it is a big push for recruitment for all the RSO’s on campus, Abdoulaye-Pedila said, especially for the Greek life organizations.

“For recruitment for fraternities and sororities this is where they see their heavy heavy recruitment other than their rush week,” she said. “They really depend on the Student Involvement Fair.”

Allison Little can be reached at 581-2812 or aclittle2@eiu.edu