Student organizations are providing connections in digital and COVID-19 policy compliant ways during the spring semester.
The COVID-19 pandemic made student organizations restructure the way they function and reach the student population. At press time, the campus alert level is at high. The COVID-19 Events Policy and Protocol dictates in-person activities have a maximum of 10 attendees. The policy requires a plan for events to be submitted to the Emergency Operations Committee four weeks before the event and encourages organizations to host events outdoors and offer a synchronous or asynchronous digital option for online attendees when possible.
Reid Powell, Student Government Association president, said he wants SGA to be visible to the campus population.
“A big thing that we do is engage the student population and be advocates for them, so the goal for this semester is that we will utilize social media more,” Powell said.
Powell said students can follow @OCUSGA on Facebook and Instagram to stay updated with campus news. Powell said no spring SGA events are set in stone yet.
“Events will be difficult to do, but hopefully we are able to implement some programming to help interact with the student body in the safest way possible,” he said. “Last semester, student organizations learned how to operate from a virtual platform. All of our meetings are virtual, so we’ve been utilizing Zoom for our student senate meetings and our executive cabinet meetings.”
Powell said working from an online platform can be difficult, but students have adapted to their circumstances.
“My best advice is to make sure your meetings are meaningful and engaging and that your members can still contribute,” he said. “Try to find ways to host virtual programming and use the office of student engagement as a resource.”
Katelyn Curtin, acting senior, is the executive director of OCU Miracle Marathon. Curtin said Miracle Marathon will have their two normal events: the “OCU’s Got Talent” event in February and the dance marathon April 17.
“It will be held primarily virtually. We learned a lot from programs that did a virtual dance marathon last year. There will also be some in-person events, like tabling, where people can come pick up prizes,” Curtin said. “It will look very similar to last semester; we just got better with technology over the pandemic.”
Curtin said the student organization raises money year-round for their local Children’s Miracle Network hospital.
“They work in conjunction with OU Children’s to provide care and research for children there. They make sure that no child ever gets turned away due to the ability to pay,” Curtin said. “They also provide care to all counties in Oklahoma.”
Curtin said she hopes students will participate in the fundraiser.
“I think the biggest thing is that there is no running involved,” she said. “It’s not an actual marathon, so if there’s some concern about having to exercise a lot, I promise you don’t have to do that.”
Curtin said she wants the event to be participant-focused.
“Miracle Marathon is for everyone. It’s not for sorority and fraternity life exclusively. If you and your best friend want to be a team for Miracle Marathon, you can” she said. “Miracle Marathon is meant to be a way for the student body to work together for a cause that everyone can get behind.”
Amanda Boozer, music education sophomore, is the president of the Hispanic Student Association. Boozer said HSA has been doing as many in-person activities as possible while adhering to the COVID-19 university protocols.
“Our goal is create something just as interesting for our in-person audience as our online audience,” Boozer said. “Our meetings are on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. both in-person and online, and we reserve two rooms for each week, 10 people per room.”
Boozer said the organization will be hosting a Lotería game night during the second week of school as their first event of the semester. Boozer said to check their Facebook and Instagram @OCUHSA.
“It’s basically Mexican bingo, and we are super excited about it,” she said. “It’s going to be a recruitment event for HSA as well as a way for people to win prizes.”
Boozer said all students are encouraged to attend meetings.
“HSA is open to all students on campus. You don’t have to be Hispanic to join HSA, and many of our members are not,” she said. “We work to educate Hispanic and non-Hispanic students about our culture and the ways of Hispanic people.”
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