20FALL STUDENT LIFE IN THE SPRING OF 2020, the University announced chapel would switch from 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. split chapel to one collective 9 a.m. service the following school year for the first time since 2013. When the pandemic spread in 2020, this original plan was stalled with the integration of online and abbreviated chapels in various locations. However, for the 202122 school year, the plan for a full student body 9 a.m. chapel was put into effect. With COVID-19 still present, masks were optional and administration offered a distanced masked section for anyone who felt more comfortable there. Mixed emotions about chapel inevitably arose. “Part of me is so happy that [chapel] is back this year,” instructor of engineering and physics Will Waldron said. “I guess I feel pulled in two different directions, which I don’t think is uncommon in this day and age. It’s really a tight place to be, and I respect and appreciate our administration for wrestling with these questions every day because it’s not an easy job.” Although students chose their chapel seats before the semester began, administration tried to implement the use of the phone app SpotterEDU to track attendance. Due to persisting complications with this method, University President David Burks announced in chapel at the end of the first week that SpotterEDU would no longer be utilized, receiving a roaring applause from the students. “I know a lot of people who complained because they went to chapel but forgot to press the button, or they forgot to bring their phone and couldn’t run back to their rooms,” senior Brendan Burke said. “In theory, it was a good idea, but it didn’t actually work out very well. I think the traditional picking seats on Pipeline was the best way to go.” With thousands of students and faculty congregating for 9 a.m. chapel, the use of the balcony was necessary. Although the trek up the Benson stairwell every morning and the large number of people in one area was not always ideal, one notable positive was a key element to chapel — the singing. “I have sat in different parts of the Benson throughout different semesters,” Burke said. “I’ve sat in the very back, front; this semester, I’m sitting in the balcony, and I noticed that when you’re sitting in the back you can’t really hear the singing normally. There might be two people sitting around you that are singing, and it sounds weird. But when the entire auditorium is full, it sounds amazing [in the balcony].” A full student body chapel was a change that required adjustment for all. Upperclassmen were experiencing something unfamiliar since it had been eight years since chapel was held as one service. For freshmen, this style of chapel was their first experience of the daily event. While outside factors created worry about how chapel would go, freshman Caroline Grover reflected the overall benefit of a full student body chapel. “Chapel really brings everyone together,” Grover said. “There are different clubs and different groups on campus, of course, but chapel is where everyone is together doing one thing at the same time. I have gotten pretty comfortable with the people I’m sitting around, and it’s not even necessarily having a full conversation with them; it’s just sitting next to them every morning and praising God creates that relationship automatically.” WRITTEN BY KATIE COOPER ONE SIZE FITS ALL Chapel resumes with students and faculty together every day.
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