Are Clubs Meeting?
By Jacqueline Luque
In a normal year, Exeter boasts over a hundred student-run clubs and activities— but since the COVID-19 pandemic, life at Exeter has proven to be anything but normal. Many clubs have gone temporarily inactive due to the difficulties of continuing pre-pandemic activities and participation levels with the limitations of COVID-19 guidelines. Now, only a fraction of clubs are still operating, and even less are able to meet synchronously this term as the full student body remains remote, scattered across multiple continents.
“It's nearly impossible to accommodate all time zones,” co-head of Environmental Proctors and senior Malia Monge said.
Upper and co-head of Students Demand Action (SDA) and Exonians Against Sexual Assault (EASA) Ana Casey agreed. “Our assigned meeting time [occurs] when some people have religious commitments. This time in general, especially when we are off campus, is just really inconvenient.”
As a result of these timezone issues, fewer people are attending their club meetings. Environmental Proctors combatted this challenge by teaming up with another club, Environmental Action Committee (EAC). This optimized club time by combining into one organization and choosing to meet synchronously bi-weekly as they work towards the creation of an environmental advocacy website. “E-Proctor and EAC co-heads focused on inclusivity when organizing our agenda for the term.” Monge added. “We wanted to accommodate both those who can make the Zoom meeting and especially those who can’t.”
Many clubs have also changed the content of regular meetings to try to make the best out of a difficult situation. Co-head of Exeter Pinoy Society and lower Grace Nivera said, “although the in-person experience cannot truly be replicated online, we have tried to come up with creative solutions to replace it. During some meetings, we actually screen Filipino movies through platforms such as Netflix Party and Watchparty (and Zoom screen share sometimes).” she added. “We find that these are great tools to keep club attendees engaged and excited.”
In some ways, the new remote platform has been beneficial for clubs. For the Exeter Forensics Team, remote learning has opened numerous windows of opportunity because of the lack of geographical and financial restrictions. “Now that every tournament is online, we have taken advantage of that opportunity by attending much more tournaments throughout the year that would have been normally hosted in California, Texas, North Dakota, etc. This has given our team a lot more experience competing on the national circuit and more opportunities to qualify for national debate tournaments” co-heads and seniors Albert Chu and Kilin Tang said.
SDA has experienced similar benefits, according to Casey. “Having all these events online through zoom makes them more accessible to people.” she said. “So for me, I’ve definitely been able to hear more people speak than I would in a normal year.”
Newer clubs have used the time away from campus to focus on their expansion and growth in years to come. “We have been able to work harder than ever to organize long term projects such as building a food computer or launching a real Cube Satellite. It also gave us time to reflect on what we want the future of EOPS to look like,” upper Alexander Kermath, co-head of the Exeter Off Planet Society (EOPS), said. “We have found ways to turn these setbacks into opportunities to push forward,” Kermath said.
Similarly, co-heads of Standup Exeter senior Adith Reddi and upper Sava Thurber have been working towards the future of their club. “We have looked a little bit more towards getting a broader scope of humor at Exeter,” they said. “With expanding, there are some other things that we have to consider, especially with anti-racism, as right now we are rewriting our club statement.”
Despite the efforts of co-heads to make everything seem as normal as possible, nothing can replace the environment of meeting on campus. “It's harder to connect with people while being farther away from each other,” upper Diwura Adesanya, co-head of the African Students Association (ASA), said. “There are a lot of things we would have liked to do but are not able to do because of COVID.”
Some clubs can't even operate during remote learning or meet as regularly on campus with COVID-19 guidelines. “Our club mainly does in-person demonstrations and experiments. Because of the quarantine period at the beginning of the school year, we were only able to hold one meeting,” co-head of Chemistry Club and upper Neil Chowdhury said.
The shift to remote learning has had a unique effect on extracurriculars, whether that be hindering the ability of clubs to meet or the feeling of community within the club itself. According to Nivera, “Zoom in no way compares to the comradery you experience when you’re in-person.”