Tabling & Transfer Students: Then and Now

Last week I represented Cal at a college fair at Orange Coast College, a local community college. As a representative of the University of California, I stood at a table and answered questions and passed out literature to students considering applying to Cal as transfer students. I was there with three other alumni volunteers.

I observed how the other Cal representatives interacted with students. One of them asked what their major was and then opened a flyer to point at the acceptance rate of students in that major. Another simply asked students if they had any questions.

I realized (in my own biased opinion) I am really good at interacting with students. I asked leading questions to engage students in conversation, highlighted great features of the university that were applicable to the students, and knew when to walk up to people near the table and talk to them. This reminded me of my earlier experience tabling. Now I will explain how I became so good at this, even though this was the first time I had represented Cal at a college fair.

BCR Tabling
At Cal I spent a lot of time tabling for the Berkeley College Republicans. It was a boatload of fun. From 10-2 on Monday-Friday there was a table and two people scheduled to be on Sproul, the primary student plaza. The main purpose was to inform students of the club, promote upcoming events, and recruit new members. Many people were surprised there was a thriving Republican club on campus. Some were happy we were there while other people were displeased if not openly mad we existed. People at the table endured insults, profanity, tiny rocks, spit, yelling, and a few dirty looks. However, the table grew to be more. The table was a social hub. Members would stop by and eat lunch at the table, hang out after class, or even be at the table instead of going to class. Students, local community members, and visitors to campus would talk to us about current issues, argue politics, or hear stories about the campus. Between the people stopping by, crazy people coming to the table to argue, and the random things that happened on Sproul there was a lot of excitement. From all these experiences, I became a very good tabler.

Transfer Students
Since the event was at a community college, it was focused on students transferring to Cal as juniors. I volunteered to work at this event because the transfer students I knew were interesting and dynamic people who had everything organized. They knew they had only two years at Cal and tried to fit in four years of activities. Some of my best friends were transfer students. The person I ate breakfast with at Crossroads everyday for a semester, the person I did Latin homework with, the girl I fell in love with, a person I hung out with and went on some trips with, my lab partner in physics who was also on a few teams at church; they were all transfer students. I have many fond memories of hanging out in Spens-Black (the transfer student dorm).

I liked working the event. The fine people at OCC came around and gave us water and a voucher for $9 at the cafeteria. I enjoyed an orange chicken bowl, Dr. Pepper, and some kind of pastry courtesy of the transfer center.