As the 2023-2024 school year comes to a close and Camas High School (CHS) students begin forecasting for the next. During this time, classes host outreach events to recruit new students, such as the CHS Choir’s “Cake Day”.

The name “Cake Day” is something of a nickname; choir director Ethan Chessin refers to it as “Cake vs. Pie” to his students and does not refer to it as anything to the general student body other than to come in for free cake and pie.

The activities during the event have changed over time, but the general theme is that students come in, eat some cake, play a game and listen to Chessin talk about choir. 

“The purpose is to just make the choir room seem like the kind of place that free cake happens in, where you have fun, and to get people talking about choir,” Chessin said.

The event is put on the morning announcements and choir members are encouraged to bring friends in, which can lead to a very large turnout. But the goal is not necessarily to recruit everyone coming into the choir room for cake; it is about public image. 

“Sometimes one of the choir students complains to me afterwards, saying ‘this happens, and all these people come in the room, and then you never see them again’… the point is to create the perception of what we are and what it is we do in this class,” Chessin said.

By facilitating a fun, communal event to bring students together, choir aims to spread the word and generally promote choir as not only a fun space, but a reputable one.

“We also do this by demonstrating our excellence: announcements about awards or achievements, major concerts, collaborations, guests who we’re working with, etc,” Chessin said. 

Choir is not the only class or club to use events to spread publicity and interest. Yearbook and Journalism recently held a joint interest meeting where dozens of students gathered to learn about the classes and their respective opportunities, raising the class sizes and encouraging growth. 

“I think [recruitment events] are great, they get people… to want to join them, you know?” CHS sophomore Carter Pak said.

The use of organized events can seriously shape people’s decisions going into the next year in forecasting and scheduling, but not always positively. In some cases, these events can ward people off.

“I did go to the cake day, it was chaos…I didn’t really want to be in choir after that,” CHS Junior Royce Owens said.

Regardless of their positive or negative impact, as the forecasting period comes to a close the efforts of clubs, classes and organizations in recruiting students continue to heavily influence student decisions for the 2024-2025 school year.