ClubFest will be a week from today in the Memorial Union’s Great Hall. You may think that’s a long time from now, but with the Labor Day weekend in between and the pressure of classes and your social life, you may want to make your plans to peruse the 250-plus offerings of student organizations ahead of time.

College students seldom pass up opportunities for that nebulous category that is “free stuff.” Free stuff inundates the Memorial Union at ClubFest. From cups and Frisbees, to all the key chains you could ever want, and more candy than Halloween, it’s pretty likely that you’ll find anything your dorm room lacks at ClubFest.

But there’s more than the material advantages that go with finding groups for all niches. You might find that a familiar or friendly face introducing you to an unknown organization is introducing you to an activity in which you thought you’d never have any interest. Engineers have joined such clubs as Mock Trial, and stranger things have happened.

Exploring the options provided by strange groups is an opportunity for you to venture outside your comfort zone. If you’re a freshman who isn’t involved in any extracurricular activities yet, ClubFest is a good opportunity to meet new people and fill your evenings and weekends with something other than staying home. Lots of clubs meet multiple times each week for several hours at a time. Some host speakers with question-and-answer time, and others host weekend retreats.

You may even find a group to commit several years of your time here at Iowa State. And if you do, eventually you’ll learn how both the group’s business should be run and how student organizations are run here. You’ll become familiar with procuring funding from the GSB Senate and with recruiting new group members. And when the established leadership are up for graduation — when their time to move on has come — you may find yourself in a good position to take up the group’s mantle and ensure another group of underclassmen have a fun-filled college career available to them.

Cabinet positions may also serve your resume well. Holding office in even a student organization demonstrates willingness to lead, capacity for vision and ability to work with other people — people who may disagree.

But that participation in organizations can’t come unless you know about them. The best way to do that, unless you know someone already in the group, is to go next Wednesday when they’ll all be in one place with members ready for you to pick their brains about what exactly it is they do.

There’s something for everyone, and there’s no telling what you’ll find.