56 COVID CHANGES Club Week 2020 continues amidst changes and adjustments. After months of planning, preparation, adjustments and rescheduling, Club Week 2020 commenced. Instead of taking place during the fall semester, Club Week occurred during the third week of classes of the spring 2021 semester. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, University, state and federal guidelines were taken into account when planning activities, including the wearing of face masks and social distancing. The week was different for not only new members, but for older members of clubs as well. Instead of engaging with new members through group activities each night of the week, only a set number of old members could participate in activities at certain times. Senior Ethan Brazell, vice president for men’s social club Omega Phi, said that through all of the changes and adjustments to make Club Week possible, new traditions emerged. “We focused more on the experience of the new members that were in the club as opposed to an entire club thing,” Brazell said. “There were things we had to change, but it was really cool because we had to get really creative, and whenever there are restrictions in place, that allows you to be more creative with your thinking. We came up with a couple of ideas that are going to be mainstays of our Club Week in the future.” Due to regulations prohibiting large gatherings, All-Club, a gathering for all of the clubs on campus, could not happen. Junior Alaina Jones, vice president for women’s social club Chi Omega Pi, said that although the absence of All-Club was felt, other activities replaced and replicated the experience for new members. “[Not having] All-Club was really stinky because I wanted all the new girls to have those memories because All-Club is everybody’s favorite thing to do, and it was a fun time that we couldn’t have our new members do, but I know that every club was hit in the gut,” Jones said. “We were able to do a cheer off with [women’s social club Phi Kappa Delta] and [we] dressed up in pink and green, and [the new members] got a little taste of it.” Many clubs faced lower classes of new members due in part to the pandemic. Women’s social club GATA welcomed two new members. Senior Jenni Hankins, assistant vice president of GATA, was hopeful for the club’s growth in the future. “We didn’t have very many people join this year, I think, because of COVID, and [in the future] I see a lot more girls being drawn to what GATA is, because it is something really special,” Hankins said. “We hit a point a couple of years ago where our numbers were really low, and we had to figure out if the club was going to survive or not. We were going to be focused on being as quintessentially us as we could be, and if we were going to disband, we were going to go out with a bang, and I think we are not going to disband anytime soon.” story by Emily Sundermeier A COVID CLUB WEEK
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