Freshmen engagement continues to rise within clubs and organizations despite a decrease in enrollment

by ANNA GOODMAN

Staff Writer

Several clubs and on-campus organizations have seen a recent uptick in engagement thanks to this semester’s freshman class. According to the Director of Media and Public Relations Lisa Marvashti, more than 1,000 new students joined the UMW community this semester, 741 of which are new first-year students who have been quick to get involved.  

While enrollment numbers have been on a steady decline over the past decade, this semester has seen an increase in event participation and club membership retention rates. 

“We’ve seen a huge uptick in engagement,” said Fiona Helms, a junior art history major and historian for the UMW Renaissance Club. “If memory serves, we maybe had five or so new members in the fall 2022 semester, and we are now looking at 4-5 times that number. This was the first semester I can recall where we’ve found ourselves ‘standing room only’ in one of the large HCC conference rooms. It’s really a great feeling.”

According to Helms, approximately 25 students showed up to the Renaissance Club’s interest meeting earlier this semester and over 50% of them were freshman. Many of the club’s new members learned about it through tabling at Club Carnival. Despite the event being moved from Ball Circle to the Cedric Rucker University Center’s Chandler Ballroom because of poor weather conditions, several club leaders attribute this semester’s success to positive interactions at the event.

“Club Carnival had nearly 100 people express interest across joining the GroupMe and email list, and the majority are overwhelmingly freshmen,” said Ecology Club President and senior political science Shad Yoder. 

Yoder and Helms have also been encouraged by consistent turnout among these new members. In previous years, several club presidents say that attendance has sharply declined after the initial interest meeting, but this year there has been more consistency.

“For every meeting that pulls in smaller numbers, we have an event that has a great turnout,” said Yoder. “The best part that cannot always be said for my experience in other clubs is that we have had consistent engagement. Both within the group chat and our weekly meetings and events have consistent numbers that while it is not breaking triple digits by any means, we get new faces that may come one week and then skip the next which is really encouraging.”

In addition to the increase in engagement among student-run clubs, university operated organizations like the Office of Student Activities and Engagement have also been making strides in outreach and retention. 

“This year, SAE is partnering with units across campus to have great programs on and off-campus for students to take advantage of on the weekends. Sometimes it can take the form of brand new programming like the great Eagle Duck Hunt or Hot Ones and at other times SAE may work to provide an amplified spotlight for programs that are already occurring on weekends like Cinema on the Square, Eaglecon Junior or Mary’s Rocktoberfest,” said Dean of Students and Associate Vice President for Student Affairs Melissa Jones. 

Vivian Reinhardt, a senior communication and digital studies major, new student welcome coordinator and peer mentor coordinator is encouraged by the uptick in freshmen engagement. 

“They just added so much since I’ve started here, and it’s so much fun to see.” she said. “Sammy squad just got started, which is like a volunteer-based SAE street squad, essentially, so it’s people that go out and help SAE.”

Jones says there has been great engagement through New Student Programs as well as campus traditions like Eagle Gathering. Much of this uptick may be attributed to increased marketing and publicity efforts. For example, Mary Washington student tour guides have intentionally highlighted Bingo when leading prospective students around campus—and it’s been effective. 

This semester approximately 300 people showed up for the first game of Bingo on Aug. 27, and nearly 200 showed up for the second week on Sept. 2. According to Jones, only about 50 students were frequent Bingo goers in recent years. Because of the rapid uptick in popularity, Bingo has moved from Lee Hall’s The Underground to the Cedric Rucker University Center’s Chandler Ballroom to accommodate the large crowds. 

“Bingo night is just one example, with hundreds of students participating, so it’s stayed in Chandler Ballroom,” Jones said. 

Campus Programming Board, the organization that hosts Bingo, has also built up their social presence in hopes of reaching more students. Clubs like Ecology and Renaissance have similarly utilized social media platforms like Instagram to engage members and keep students up to date. 

“Since September of 2023, I have been regularly engaging on our social media and posting about events,” said Helms. “As I mentioned, our club has literally quadrupled in size since then. It’s made a huge difference.”

The influx of freshmen involvement brings fresh new ideas to organizations, executive boards and UMW as a whole.

“With the freshmen that come in and the new ideas that are flowing into UMW, it’s opening up so many different alleyways and interest and creativity,” said Reinhardt. “I know a couple organizations, they had barely any numbers last semester, but now they’ve skyrocketed.”

Since Fall 2018, enrollment numbers at UMW have steadily dropped. Going from 4,410 enrolled undergraduates in 2014, to 3,611 in 2023, campus clubs and organizations have adapted to the changing campus environment. 

“All in all, we know that our students just want to be connected with each other so we’ve been excited to be able to provide that opportunity both during the week as well as on the weekends,” said Jones. 

Samuel Chacra and Emma Kingkeo contributed to reporting for this article.