From wearing face masks to keeping six feet apart from friends, students are constantly having to adjust to a new normal this fall semester. Many students are also starting to feel the social strain due to these regulations and not wanting to potentially expose themselves to the coronavirus.
“[COVID-19] has definitely made me feel a lot more cautious about larger social gatherings,” sophomore Mary Kathryn Asencio said. “I don’t feel especially comfortable being around so many people without a mask on.”
The Campus Activities Board (CAB) has already begun planning events for the school year and is focused on keeping them safe for all students.
“We’re going to be doing more virtual events,” CAB director Logan Light said. “And being open to doing virtual events has led us to doing more things than we would normally do.”
In addition to virtual concerts and live-streamed events, students can expect the return of CAB movie nights, but with a few modifications.
“Spacing guidelines are going to be in effect,” Light said. “We would normally show a movie twice, but we can only have 100 people in there at a time. We’re going to be showing seven showings over a Friday and Saturday, and we would not have done that in the past.”
CAB employee Brooklyn Kelly said going to the CAB events is easy and cost efficient.
“The movies cost money, but most of the events do not cost money,” Kelly said. “It’s just a free, easy, planned thing that you can come to, and if you’re not having fun you do not have to stay.”
While all the new rules and guidelines may seem like a hassle, Light said he is thankful for the ways the inconveniences have brought new ideas for the future.
“I’ve had feedback from people that said, ‘I love that there’s all these options,’” Light said. “It’s a great example of something we’ve had to think about differently and might start keeping, even without restrictions.”
Kelly also said going to CAB events is a fun way to meet people and try new things.
“It is a great way to meet people, get out of your comfort zone, and out of your circle of people,” Kelly said.
CAB employees are taking the necessary precautions to ensure students are safe at the events. Despite this, employees also understand some students may not want to take the risk. CAB employees are taking all of those anxieties into mind and are even coming up with their own ideal social distanced gathering.
