More than 75 tables, like this one for the Pierre Laclede Honors College, were set up for the Fall Involvement Jamboree on Thursday afternoon. (Photo by Ryan Fagan)

Last year, typical August heat in St. Louis forced the Fall Involvement Jamboree inside the Millennium Student Center, so as Ahmad Wallace was planning for the 2025 event earlier this month, he was encouraged when the long-range forecast showed high temperatures in the low- to mid-80s for the last few days of the month.

Wallace, the coordinator of student organizations for the Office of Student Involvement at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, knew this time around, the Jamboree could be back where it belonged, outside on the MSC patio and sprawled across the East Lawn.

“I feel like being outside, there’s sunshine and you can breathe,” said Wallace, who organizes the Jamboree, which is held once in the fall and once in the spring. “Everything isn’t clustered up, so people can walk around freely, sit down, listen to the music. It allows for us to put all the student organizations and departments together. When we’re inside, I sometimes have to split them up.”

Wallace said this year’s event featured more than 75 tables represented by more than 50 student organizations and 17 different departments at the university. Knowing it would still be warm, even though not oppressively so, Wallace brought in a Kona Ice truck. Students who checked in at the OSI tent on the MSC patio were given a coupon for a free shaved ice.

The students responded to the weather and outdoor setting. Wallace said 380 students checked into the event – up from 193 at last fall’s event and up from the 244 who attended the Involvement Jamboree last spring – showing once again why the Jamboree is an annual highlight event for the Office of Student Involvement.

“This is the one of the events where we really uphold our office motto: Where people find their people,” he said. “This allows the students to come around and see what orgs they’re interested in, to see what matches with their identity and their interests and helps them learn how to join.”

Students who attended the event were enticed to stop by for a chat at the different booths with all sorts of raffle entries and freebies, anything from mini-size candy bars to sunglasses to stickers to pens and T-shirts – including one of St. Louis Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn from CommunityAmerica Credit Union, which had just opened its new branch inside the MSC with a ribbon cutting on Wednesday afternoon.

Senior Sabrina Underwood said the spinning wheel of prizes at the University Program Board booth was popular with students. (Photo by Ryan Fagan)

Sabrina Underwood, a senior social work major and one of the programming directors for the University Program Board, was manning the UPB booth, which was a popular stop spot for students. The key, Underwood said, was the bright, spinning wheel of prizes students could win.

“The wheel brings people in,” she said with a laugh. “Why not spin it? You get to be a little kid again. Everybody wants to spin a wheel. That’s why all the game shows have a wheel.”

Once students stopped for a spin, Underwood was able to tell them about all the events coming up this year, including a Fright Fest-themed version of the group’s Explore St. Louis excursions, where a group of UMSL students will go to a Haunted House in October on a bus chartered by the UPB. Underwood said the UPB also has events like a pool party, a trivia night, bingo, movie night and several different types of drop-in events that will happen around the MSC.

Jesse Bier, president of UMSL’s Physics Club, set up a telescope with a special filter to allow students to look at the sun. (Photo by Ryan Fagan)

The UMSL Physics Club didn’t have a spinning wheel of prizes, but the telescope they had set up brought a steady stream of interested students by their booth, too. The scope, which Physics Club president Jesse Bier bought to look at the eclipse in 2024, had a special filter to allow students to get a unique view of the sun.

“It’s been good!” Bier said. “The response has pretty much been what I had hoped, that people would be fascinated by looking. It’s been a good response. I’m glad I brought it.”

Bier has worked to revive the Physics Club, which had been mostly dormant for a few years, and setting up at the Fall Involvement Jamboree was part of the idea of promoting the club. The T-shirts his group brought to give away went quickly.

“We didn’t have nearly enough swag to give away,” he said. “But this was the first year I’ve been to this event, so I didn’t really know how well-attended it was.”

The Office of Student Involvement gave every student who checked in at the Fall Involvement Jamboree a voucher for a free shaved ice from the Kona Ice truck. (Photo by Ryan Fagan)

Fletcher Perry was with Bier at the booth, and he would tell students about the Physics Club while Bier helped the students use the telescope.

“We’ll be doing biweekly movie nights at our planetarium at Benton Hall in the science complex, along with our weekly meetings on Fridays,” Perry said. “We welcome any majors, anyone who even has a vague interest in astronomy, they’re more than welcome to join.”

And that was the theme for the event: making sure students knew they were welcome to join whatever club or group matched their interests.

“I always tell students, you spend 20% of your time in the classroom, and the other 80% is outside the classroom, in the res halls, in the cafeteria, at games, student orgs and doing different things,” Wallace said. “This is how you find that 80% of your experience, getting out and getting connected. We just want to make sure our students have the best collegiate experience.”