Penn State's University Park Undergraduate Association hosted a social justice involvement fair on Friday afternoon in the HUB-Robeson Center’s Flex Theater to honor Women's Empowerment Day of Advocacy.
The event invited various student organizations to promote their clubs and advocate for social justice.
Free Penn State Berkey Creamery ice cream was available for attendees as well.
First-year UPUA council member Rasha Elwakil said the involvement fair "provides a platform for these organizations to share what they do.”
"They are really promoting creating a positive impact on the Penn State campus," Elwakil (freshman-earth science and policy) said.
Elwakil said the event allowed students to "see how they can get more involved on campus and ways they can create positive changes within their different social justice initiatives that they care about."
After this event, Elwakil said she hopes UPUA can continue hosting events like the involvement fair every year to promote "diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging."
Triota, Penn State’s women’s, gender and sexuality studies honor society, was one of the clubs at the event.
According to Triota’s service events coordinator Molly French-McShea, the club attended in hopes of making the university “a better place and more equitable.”
“We want to be part of this because it is a lot of good organizations coming together, and we sort of have the same thing in mind,” French-McShea (senior-women’s studies) said.
Earlier in the week, Triota held a professionalization workshop to discuss how to defend women in the workplace. The club also hosted Zine workshops, which helped the club spread knowledge about “a lot of foundational feminist” aspects, according to Triota’s secretary Meghan Quaid (junior-English).
In addition to Triota and UPUA, the following clubs attended the event: Days for Girls at Penn State, It’s On Us, First-Gen Advocates, Sigma Lambda Gamma and Lambda Theta Alpha.
Attendee Yasmine Oueslati said the event was "really beneficial" in helping her learn about feminism and her campus involvement.
Oueslati (freshman-nursing) said she wants to "learn more, find out what is happening."
Throughout March, UPUA and other Penn State organizations scheduled events to celebrate Women’s History Month.
This year, the National Women’s History Alliance announced the 2023 theme as “Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories."
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