Club Fest blown away by number of interested students
By Maruja Rosario
Copy Editor
mxr3oo@psu.edu
Penn State Harrisburg holds
an annual ritual that involves
all the pomp, circumstance,
and charms of both Bush and
Kerry’s campaign trails com
bined. It is known as Club
Fest, the one time when stu
dents, both new and mature,
can see all the clubs that PSH
These Sigma lota Epsilon members are using candy to entice students to check out
their table and possibly join their honors fraternity. This club permotes interest and
acheivment in the field of managament. .
Members from Chi Gamma lota Veteran’s Fraternity (XGI) pose together for a quick
picture between recruiting members druing club test. XGI works to help Military
members and veterans make the transition from military to college.
Photo by Kathryn Herr
degree in English Education,
Jaster began her teaching
career. For fourteen years in
Cape May, New Jersey, she
taught all levels of children, from
honors to compensatory, in
grades B th to 12 th , always
including Shakespeare in the
curriculum. “I’ve taught this stuff
to my compensatory eight
graders and they got it,” said
has to offer and should one
(or a few) pique their inter
ests, sign up to participate.
This event is often the one
chance clubs are given to
recruit members using any
means possible. Some clubs
enticed students with candy
or free pencils, while others
used catchy posters and
signs.
This year’s Club Fest ran
Jaster during a Shakespeare lec
ture at PSH.
While teaching, Jaster also
coached softball and directed
the literary magazine, honors
society, and the junior high
school newspaper.
During her stay in Cape May,
Jaster became a loyal fan of the
Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies, a
3 r division professional ice
smoothly, even with the
weather attempting to sabo
tage the annual festivities.
The rain decided it would be
best to leave PSH alone,
though it did send strong
winds that forced the clubs to
pin down their posters and
make sure their freebies did
not blow across Vartan Plaza,
where Club Fest is normally
held.
From Shakespeare to South Park
JASTER cont. from i
hockey team. Jaster really loves
the game of ice hockey, and
though true to her Bullies, the
Philadelphia native is also a fan
of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Another result of her Cape May
residence includes a love of
relaxing on the beach and eating
gyros, her favorite food.
Here in Middletown, Jaster can
be spotted at the Gateway
restaurant having breakfast, for
Jaster said she is a sucker for
“greasy spoon joints.”
After Cape May, Jaster spent
three summers studying in
England with the Royal
Shakespeare Company to
receive her Master’s degree from
Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Despite ridicule from peers,
Jaster left teaching in 1994 to get
her Ph.D. in English Literature,
with a concentration in
Renaissance studies, from the
University of Maryland. True to
her nature, Jaster did most of her
research for her Ph.D. in the
Folgers Shakespeare Library.
photos byKathryn Herr
These enviornmentalists take a break from agressive recruiting durng Club Fest.
Their club peromotes awarness of enviornmental issues. They were lucky enough to
get a good table at Club Fest; right up front and across from the busy SGA table.
Members from all campus clubs put on thier best efforts to recuruit members to join
them. Club fest give students the chance to see what clubs are offered at Penn
State Harrisburg and get a feel for what they might clubs they might enjoy.
It was just after receiving her
Ph.D. that Penn State Harrisburg
got a hold of Jaster. Although she
had job interviews all over the
“I really enjoy
the exchange of
ideas with stu
dents. I like to
see them get
excited about
this stuff”
-Dr. Margaret Jaster
country, Jaster felt a strong pull
to Pennsylvania and to her fami
ly. “My mother prayed me into
this job,” Jaster said. “I don’t
think the Lord ignores old ladies’
prayers.” Jaster received tenure
in 2001 and was promoted to
Associate Professor of
Humanities and English at PSH.
Her favorite part of teaching at
PSH is in the classroom. “I really
enjoy the exchange of ideas with
students. I like to see them get
excited about this stuff,” she
said. English 200 W and 444 are
the classes she enjoys teaching
most. “I really love my 200 W
course because the students get
to think in new ways. That’s very
exciting for me,” she said.
However, Jaster said she could
do without the committee meet
ings and the paper grading that
all professors have to deal with.
She took a sabbatical from
teaching from 2002 to 2003 to
accept a fellowship from the
Folgers Shakespeare Library to
research clothes in the
Renaissance, a favorite topic of
Jaster’s.
In the event that Jaster has
spare time, she uses it to go hik
ing, attend theater and art muse
ums and collect antiques. She
also enjoys old Universal mon
ster movies, especially mummy
movies. “I’m not embarrassed to
say I enjoy some T.V.,” said
Jaster. She is an avid viewer of
South Park, which she relates to
Shakespeare with ease, and
Reno 911. “I love anything
Canadian, especially hockey
players,” she said.
She is currently renovating her
Victorian home, which is proving
to be a love-hate project. Jaster
also has an appreciation for clas
sic rock and soft jazz. Janis
Joplin’s Greatest Hits is currently
spinning in her CD player. “My
taste in music probably ends at
1975, mostly the stuff I’ve always
loved,” said Jaster.
Jaster is always busy with one
thing or another. She is involved
in many scholarly events, such
as Folgers Shakespeare Library
seminars, the Annual Medieval
and Renaissance conference at
Villanova University and various
colloquia. It is a far cry from the
blue collar atmosphere she
began her life in. However, as
Jaster said, “I knew what I want
ed to do and I didn’t let others
talk me out of it.”