How to get a leadership position in a club during orientation weekend

Becoming the leader of any club requires time. So, it is difficult to imagine how a freshman could become the leader of a club before the first day of classes. However, during my freshman year activities fair, I was lucky enough to become the secretary of the racquetball club, so I will explain the process for possible replication in the future.

As I walked towards the sports clubs area of the activities fair, I noticed a table that looked empty. No one was standing behind it, but there was a sheet of paper on it that said “Racquetball club.” Only two people had signed up. I wondered why the piece of paper was left alone by its owner. For some odd reason, I thought it would be funny to stand behind it and pose as the president of the W&M Racquetball club. So, I did.

I had never played racquetball before. I had never even played a racket sport before. But, I stood behind the table and went up to students who walked by the table and urged them to join. Actually, I almost begged them to join. When they told me to explain the game, I said “It’s kind of like baseball. You have a ball. You have a racket. And, you hit the ball with the racket. You hit it as hard as you can so you beat your opponent. You play to win the game.” Again, for some odd reason, people liked the way I explained the game and thirty students signed up.

Then, the real president of the racquetball club came over and asked me what I was doing behind the table. I felt a bit scared but I told him what happened. He looked a bit surprised at how many people signed up and named me the secretary of the club. But, I didn’t want to be the secretary; I wanted to be the president. So, I asked him if I can be president. He said no.

About two years later, I became the president of the club after playing racquetball in my freshman and sophomore years. I learned how to play a sport I never knew existed and became the leader of a club through an impulsive decision I made in the activities fair. So, if you want to become the leader of a club before the first day of freshman year classes, be impulsive at the activities fair.*

*Not all impulsive decisions made at the activities fair will result in productive outcomes. Actually, most will just result in spam emails.