The weather this weekend couldn’t have been more welcoming for Northern Michigan University students returning to classes – and to extracurriculars.

It was balmy for Monday’s annual Fall Fest, an event which gave students the chance to learn about 120 campus and community organizations, with booths offering information on organizations’ missions and ways to get involved.

It’s a great way for campus organizations – running the spectrum from academic groups like the Elementary Education Math Club to the North Wind student newspaper – to get a chance to look for recruits.

We also think Fall Fest is a perfect opportunity for NMU?students to get involved in volunteerism, both on and off campus, at the very beginning of the school year.

Representatives of Big Brothers Big Sisters were among the 30 groups with booths set up at Fall Fest.

BBBS typically sees 25 to 30 new student volunteers as a result of the festival alone.

“It’s a great opportunity,” BBBS volunteer Liz Sherman said. “We’ve been getting a lot of students who’ve never heard of Big Brothers Big Sisters participating because we’re out here.”

We’re sure that once NMU students learn about opportunities to get productively involved in campus and town life, they’ll take advantage of them.

Fall Fest is a great way to kick off a year full of learning and volunteering. NMU students are assets to our community. We’re glad to have them back.