Students, faculty and staff on and off campus are busy this fall finding creative solutions for problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the important elements of campus life that has been affected is club activities. How do clubs continue to enrich student life, while accounting for COVID-19 precautions and off-campus students? Student Senate and club cabinets alike have been working diligently to accommodate these newfound concerns. Many clubs on campus have found new ways to interact or have developed new COVID-related events.
The Student Senate Clubs Committee has taken several important steps to ensure clubs can meet safely. This semester, all clubs will be required to meet online, unless they can gain special approval to meet on campus. Clubs that request to meet on campus must fill out a form explaining their reasoning for meeting in-person and describing the safety precautions they will take. Additionally, all club leaders who request to meet in-person will have a meeting with committee leaders. The Clubs Committee also elected to hold the yearly Fall Activities Fair online to accommodate students staying both on and off campus.
Sock & Buskin President Nicole McCauley outlined her club’s plans in an interview. As Elizabethtown College’s theatre club, Sock & Buskin’s fall activities include participating in the Homecoming parade and helping promote the fall theatre production. As both events have been cancelled, her cabinet is planning new events that are COVID-safe. “We’re planning on having online interactive script readings of full-length plays and shorter 10-minute plays. We’re also hoping to host a mask-making workshop in conjunction with the costume shop,” McCauley said. McCauley said she hopes that through this alternative planning, Sock & Buskin can still provide access to theatre events on campus.
While most clubs meeting online are doing so through Zoom, Anime Club President Mercedes Geiger says that her club has sought out an alternative platform to meet virtually this semester. Geiger’s club will be meeting through Discord, an instant messaging platform which allows communities to create their own servers and chat channels. “It’s been a bit rough since our club primarily involves a group of people meeting up to watch anime, which is why we thought a Discord server would be a good solution!” Geiger said. “We’re hoping that we can continue to function as we had in the past, with only slight variations.” Through Discord, the Anime Club can accommodate students staying off-campus, stream shows and communicate instantly outside of meeting times. The Anime Club is hoping to schedule occasional meetups outside as well.
Club officers are hoping to hold JAYCON 10 in the spring semester, for which plans are already underway.
There are many uncertainties on everyone’s minds this year. Rest assured, student leaders are clearly finding many unique ways to serve the student body (at school or at home).
Anyone interested in attending any of the aforementioned events can email Sock & Buskin and the Anime Club at sockandbuskin@etown.edu or animeclub@etown.edu respectively.
