CHANGING GEARS

Junior Emma Duggan works on the FIRST robotics robot during a team practice.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY HAYDEN GARD

Clubs and other extracurriculars adapt and cancel gatherings, meetings and events during pandemic

BY EMILY HELMUTH AUBREY BANKS co-editor-in-chief reporter

It is fair to say that COVID-19 has changed the way students attend school, as we have transitioned from going two days a week to four to none. With these constant adjustments to the schedule, clubs and extracurriculars have had to change the way they operate.

Performance based clubs, like theatre, have continued to rehearse in person but socially distanced. They have also limited the amount of people in their audience at a time. Theatre live-streamed their fall performance and plans to do the same with their spring musical.

“We are doing our best to avoid those as much as possible. For performances, we are spacing the audience out and requiring masks,” theatre director Kit Degenhart said. “As of now, only two family members can attend a performance for each student involved. We have also started live streaming our shows so more people can experience the production.”

Degenhart notes that outside of the cast, the crew has also been impacted by the pandemic.

“We are also practicing social distancing and mask wearing at our crew’s work sessions,” Degenhart said. “That’s a little easier, but sometimes there are jobs that require people to be closer than six feet apart. We are doing our best to avoid those as much as possible.”

Community service based clubs have had to adjust meetings and fundraisers. For Student Council, events like selling candy grams and setting up the Christmas tree have been canceled, while events such as the blood drive were heavily altered.

“The worst part is that the fundraisers go towards Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. We have fundraisers at Chipotle and Panera Bread coming up that can hopefully make up for those missing funds,” Student Council sponsor Colleen Fano said.

Even with the pandemic, Student Council is still able to meet over Zoom and the club did host a new kind of event this year.

“I am proud to say that Student Council has still been an active club despite COVID-19,” Student Council president senior Matt Gerona said. “For example, we were able to host the first ever Gaga ball competition for Lurie Children’s Hospital which was a massive success.”

Like Student Council, key club has also had to cancel many of its big events.

“Sadly, because of COVID-19, we haven’t been able to have our Halloween or Christmas parties, which are two of our biggest events of the year,” Key Club president senior Jonah Peterson said.

The pandemic has heavily limited the amount of community service Key Club can do, which according to Peterson can be challenging in a club based around community service.

“As an officer in Key Club, it has been

very stressful this year because of all of the new regulations. I try to make Key Club a club that can get students a lot of service hours, but COVID-19 has gotten in the way of a lot of that,” Peterson said.

Student journalism clubs have also suffered, as many of the events they typically report on have been canceled along with others. Yearbook specifically has had to change the way they sell ads and design.

“There have been so many drastic changes in the yearbook because of COVID-19,” junior Bri Rusin said. “Normally when we go out in teams with ad groups to different places to see if they want to sponsor our book. Due to COVID-19 lots of places were closed and we couldn’t be in teams together. We also changed our layout of the spreads drastically from what it was the years before to make it easier with creating them on a short timeline.”

Also, like other clubs, Rusin says that yearbook has lost a lot of the social aspects it had in the past due to the now limited amount of time they have as a group. As a virtual student, Rusin notes the major differences between yearbook in person and online.

“I absolutely loved yearbook last year,” Rusin said. “I liked going to Washington D.C. with all these new friends I had made, playing with design and contacting people in school for interviews, which was a lot of fun. But now this year I’m not even in the class, and I’m not able to create new friends as much as last year. Our trip to Disney was canceled which we all were super excited for.”

Similar to yearbook, CPTV has faced setbacks in producing news as well as only so many people can be in the studio at once. Sophomore Chris Gloff notes the changes made this year.

“We usually start CPTV episodes around November, and this year we didn’t even start until the end of January,” Gloff said. “Also, I produce and co-host the Morning Bark on the Dog Radio, and we only do four shows a week to ensure our studios have a deep cleaning after every two days.”

Gloff also mentions how although there is no shortage in news content due to the pandemic changing so many things, other content areas have taken hits.

“For news, COVID-19 has brought so many different problems and resolutions to light that we wish we could report on. However, for a radio show on pop culture in a time where movie and TV show production is very limited, it is hard to find topics that are interesting to converse about,” Gloff said.

Some clubs that compete have been forced to do so virtually this year. FIRST robotics is included in this number and junior Emma Duggan notes the big differences between FIRST this year compared to last year.

“You lose those aspects of in person communication and bonding that you experience at competitions,” Duggan said. “(We) film the robot doing tasks for the virtual competition.”

Despite the transition to virtual competitions and other changes, Duggan says that some things have stayed the same.

“The team is still prepping the robot as if we still have in person events, and, besides the masks, practice is still the same.”

Some clubs, such as SPLAT, have halted meeting altogether this year. Sponsor and graphic design teacher Karen Topp made this decision based on safety concerns. Outside of SPLAT, Topp still has students in her graphic design classes, and she notes how that has been impacted by the pandemic.

“I’m here every Saturday just trying to keep myself one step ahead of my students, because I just have never had online content for my kids. It’s just always been in the shop, using these computers and equipment.”

According to Topp, due to her classes being largely “hands-on,” COVID-19 has greatly impacted the way she teaches the content. She now creates videos explaining to her students on how to complete their assignments due to their limited time in the shop.

“It’s unfortunate that there is no way we can cover the content that we normally would, especially when we are only at two days a week,” Topp said. “I mean, how can we get in the shop and work when we only see these kids twice a week for two hours a week? It’s been challenging to say the least, but I feel I have some kids that have done fine with that 100% virtual. ”

Topp, who worked as a graphic artist for two decades before becoming a teacher, notes how difficult this year has been in comparison to years prior.

“When I started teaching, I always have said ‘this is the hardest I’ve ever worked in my life.’ This year is the ultimate workload I have ever had. You just can never take a break because the kids will be ahead of you with nothing to do. It’s just a bad situation for everyone involved.” ‘‘ COVID-19 has brought so many different problems and resolutions to light that we wish we could report on. However... it is hard to find topics that are interesting to converse about.”

sophomore Chris Gloff

Junior Bri Rusin works on yearbook design during a Wednesday work day. Rusin is virtual this year and uses Wednesdays to complete assignments.

PHOTO BY EMILY HELMUTH

‘‘ The worst part is that the fundraisers go towards Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. We have fundraisers at Chipotle and Panera Bread coming up that can hopefully make up for those missing funds.

Student Council sponsor Colleen Fano