On September 15, Hart House held its annual Wide Open House event, which allows students to explore some of the non-academic activities that U of T has to offer.
All of Hart House’s clubs were set up with booths to advertise their activities to the students who crowded the hallways. Among them were groups doing drama, amateur radio, photography and film, even investing, as well as athletic groups engaged in SCUBA diving, swimming and other sports.
Booths were also set up by the local student travel companies and Student Services, who work to get first year and upper year students alike involved with the university community. 89.5 CIUT also had a tent outside, and broadcast live interviews with representatives from the various clubs throughout the event.
The event featured theme-rooms, ranging from the Far East to the Wild West and all tropics in between. A party in the courtyard concluded the day. Hart House offered cheap food as well as entertainment by student bands, such as local lights Tomphoolery.
Wide Open House has been running annually for over twenty years, organizers said. They hoped for a large turnout this year, having done extensive advertising: 10,000 brochures were mailed to the homes of incoming students in mid-August; a promotional CD profiling Hart House was also made and a total of 16,000 e-mails were sent out.
“If we weren’t run off our feet and busy, we wouldn’t be doing our job,” said Hart House program director Laney Marshall.
