By Emmy Yacoub
UNIVERSITY CITY, SHARJAH – The American University of Sharjah’s Emirati Cultural Club’s booth won first place in Club Fair, a biannual event where student organizations try to gain new members, held Sept. 19-20 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Main Building rotunda.
Interviewed Sept. 23, the club’s Sustainability Officer Maryam Al Mazrouei said the booth’s theme was “From the Desert to Space” in honor and celebration of Emirati astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi recently returning from a space mission and the United Arab Emirates’ “revolutionary achievements.”
Al Mazrouei added the main activity for participants was a spin-the-wheel trivia about the country. She said the wheel determined the questions’ difficulty based on which shade of blue it landed on with the darker being harder. Winners received Karak, Emirati snacks, and stickers, Al Mazrouei said.
Challenges
According to Al Mazrouei, the biggest challenge the club faced setting up the booth was picking between fairy lights or stars as decoration. Organization members made “countless trips to the storage room and phone calls” between each other before eventually deciding on the latter, she said.
Another problem, she said, was the move of the event from the Student Center, currently undergoing renovations, to the Main Building. Al Mazrouei said the change in venue caused worry during the planning period due to the place’s unfamiliarity.
But they found the building’s spaciousness allowed clubs and visitors to further engage with each other and made their interactions “more pleasurable and humorous,” she added.
She said some events the Emirati Cultural Club is currently excited include National Day, Flag Day, and breast cancer awareness. Al Mazrouei added they are willing to collaborate with other organizations in the future and help welcome freshmen and exchange students.
One hundred and six clubs participated in the event with the Indian Cultural Club winning second place and the Jordanian and Saudi cultural clubs tying at third.
New and reactivated
The two-day Club Fair saw thousands of students walk through the rotunda to visit or view the booths set up by student organizations. The Jordanian, Palestinian, Sudanese, Pakistani and Indian clubs also hosted well-attended dance performances in the Main Auditorium.
Among the organizations participating in the September fair were 11 new and reactivated clubs
- Arabic Heritage Club
- Women in Industrial Engineers
- Alpha Lambda Delta
- The CAAD Student Collective
- The Student Association of Foreign Affairs
- Virtual Reality Club
- AUS Banking Club
- American Society of Quality
- The Algerian Club
- Indonesian Cultural Club
- Sri Lankan Cultural Club
