9 minute read
Living the Sweet (Pandemic) Life
livingthe sweet
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We’ve all read stories over the past year about how difficult the pandemic has been on students of all ages—from distance learning to a lack of social interaction.
Sweet Briar students aren’t immune to the emotional toll the pandemic has had, but since August, when our students first returned to campus, they’ve been busy developing a wide variety of events—both virtual and in-person—that have allowed the College to retain at least some semblance of the social life that is so important to mental health. Even better, the College has been able to maintain some social interaction without sacrificing health.
Reesa Artz ’22 is president of the Campus Events Organization and one of Sweet Briar’s COVID captains. COVID captains are student leaders who have volunteered to help keep themselves and their classmates safe by checking students in and out of events and doing temperature and other symptom checks. The captains also ensure that everyone is following social distancing and facial covering guidelines. “COVID captains were a result of the many discussions between the student task force during summer 2020,” says Reesa. “They include many student leaders on campus, including class officers, SGA cabinet and executive board members, and trained student volunteers. All COVID captains have gone through proper training to ensure students attending campus approved events are correctly and safely following appropriate COVID-19 guidelines set forth by the Student Events Committee.”
The willingness of the students to buy into the COVID safety proce-
Twins Caroline and Natalie Czarra ‘22 enjoy the nice weather on the Quad during Oktoberfest
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That’s how many events our students and the Office of Student Life put on just during the fall semester.
The cross-country team gets ready to take off at the start of the GLOW Race
dures has been critical to the quality of campus life. During the fall semester, multiple events were held every week, put on by clubs, the Student Government Association and the Office of Student life. Events have included monthly Tuesday Trivia Nights, a Dell party, S’mores under the Stars and a Festival of Frights costume contest.
For Reesa, the best event was the 2nd annual Oktoberfest. Organized by CEO, it was open not just to students, but also to faculty and staff. “It was wonderful being able to see members of the Sweet Briar community, beyond our immediate friends and classmates, come together and enjoy a beautiful fall day,” Reesa says. The two-part event began in the late morning with a German-inspired brunch, a candy and trail mix bar, beer garden, photo opportunities and pumpkin painting. Later in the evening, there was a showing of the movie Halloweentown, hot cocoa, apple cider and a bonfire. “Having two parts of the event over multiple hours, provided the opportunity for as many people to come as possible,” Reesa observes. “The event was successful due to the volunteers and COVID Captains at this event. Plus, many staff and faculty volunteered their time to assist with the various activities and check-in, along with our COVID captains!”
CEO also partnered with the athletics department to support the College’s student athletes. In the fall, CEO organized a Spirit Week with a wide variety of events including daily dress-up themes. Even though official games weren’t being played, Spirit Week featured “tailgates” at practices and scrimmages. Pink and green pom poms were handed out at every sporting event, providing attendees a fun and interactive way to cheer on their classmates. “Partnering with our wonderful athletics department was a fantastic way to get to know even more people on campus, as well as support our student-athletes,” Reesa told us. “Having these scrimmages was a way to have them feel like they were playing a real game like in preCOVID times. Regardless of COVID, I think all student-athletes appreciated the support and enjoyed sharing their passion for their sport and team with the Sweet Briar community.”
As a student leader, Reesa knows she has a role to play in building a sense of community despite the pandemic. “While I understand how difficult COVID has made life, I see
Katie Balding ‘21 celebrates graduate school news with a scroll game
the positives as well,” she says. “It has definitely been different planning socially distanced events, and I have found that part of the excitement of planning them is the challenge. It is so much more rewarding to create these events during this time, when human interconnectedness is so needed and valued.”
Sydney Campbell ’21 shares Reesa’s gratitude for the community at Sweet Briar. “We have been presented with many challenges this year, but as Sweet Briar students always have, we found a way to persevere and make the best given what we have,” she says. “We saw clubs and organizations working together, community service, appreciation events for faculty and staff of the College thanking them for all that they do, creativity and many other things last semester from every event that was hosted. I am truly impressed with the student body’s ability to uphold the Sweet Briar community we know, while still keeping our health and safety at the forefront of our minds.”
Sydney is president of the Inter-Club Council, which held their traditional Hazing Prevention Week in the fall despite the pandemic. The week is a chance to educate the community on a critical topic. “This topic is crucial at a school like ours that is rooted in tradition, as sometimes it is hard for students to see the difference between traditions and hazing,” Sydney points out. “Hazing Prevention Week provokes reflection and discussion on what can be considered hazing and what a club can do to implement positive changes.” Throughout the week, ICC hosted a number of events including a paint night with Culture Club, bracelet making with BAM, donut decorating and a banner signing.
Director of Student Engagement Jess Austin noted that the pandemic has forced the students to think differently, but sometimes that has been for the best. “Sometimes the changes the students made because of COVID made the events better and that was unexpected,” she says. Sydney experienced that first hand. Because of COVID, two of her favorite traditions—the Founders’ Day dance and ghost stories with the Chung Mungs—had to be held outside this year, a change from how they are usually done. To ensure social distancing, the Founders’ Day dance was held all over the upper side of campus—in the Quad and in front of Benedict and the library. The dance also featured a photo booth, bar, catering and other activities. “Having the event so spread out made it feel like we
were at a huge street festival!” Sydney says. “I, and many other students, feel that Founders’ Day should continue to be held outside—a new twist on an old tradition. The ghost stories were also a huge hit! This event was hosted at the bandstand and bonfire at night, which made the event feel even spookier. I hope that this becomes the new tradition for future Chung Mungs.”
Creativity really has been the operative word for events this year. Natalie Czarra ’22, president of the Sweet Tones, had to employ a sense of creativity because the group couldn’t have the concerts that they normally would. The answer? Virtual open mic nights!
For Natalie, the open mic nights were a great way to keep music at Sweet Briar alive. In fact, the events were so successful that Natalie has had to develop set lists to make sure everyone had the chance to participate. In fact, one event in the fall took place on the same day as one of the open houses for prospective Sweet Briar students. The visitors joined in, giving them a sense of the “real” Sweet Briar. We hope that we’ll be able to welcome some of those students to campus in fall 2021 when they join our Sweet Briar family.
Like Sydney, Natalie sees some benefit to the virtual events. “I hope that these events inspire some other students to audition for the Sweet Tones because I know the in-person auditions are super stressful,” she says. “There’s a sort of barrier between the performer and the audience when it’s virtual, and I think that eliminates some of the jitters.”
Despite the pandemic, Sweet Briar’s beautiful campus and outdoor spaces meant that we were able to host Dell parties with live music and food. And just like for generations of Sweet Briar women before her, those were Natalie’s favorite events. She hopes that when the weather warms up that there will be more of those to look forward to. “Seeing all of the students wearing their masks, sitting on the Dell on outdoor blankets and enjoying the music and food made me fall in love with Sweet Briar all over again because of our resilience and determination to keep things as normal as possible—
there really is nothing we cannot do!”
Despite the challenges, Jess Austin encouraged the students to step up and set the tone. “The way I viewed it, there wasn’t room to fail,” she told us. “We had to preserve the integrity of the campus life we strive to create. That’s how the club presidents approached it. After we mourned what we were going to lose, we just jumped in and made the best of it. It was up to the staff and the student leaders to do it.”
As we go to press, COVID restrictions imposed by Virginia’s governor are still impacting spring events, but the students remain hopeful that as the vaccine rollout continues, the restrictions will be lifted and more events will take place as the weather warms up.
In the meantime, virtual events are the order of day. Zoom fatigue is real, but Jess and the students combat that by having “grab and go” events. For example, CEO might host a trivia or movie night online, but students are encouraged to come by the student life office in the afternoon to pick up snacks for the evening event. Likewise, students might pick up supplies for a virtual night of crafting or vi-
sion-board making.
The Office of Student Life has also teamed up with their counterparts at the University of Lynchburg and Randolph to host some entertaining Zoom events this spring. The events are taking place about once per month and include stand-up comedy, a beatboxer, a VCR party where old movies are muted and the dialog and sounds are made up, and mentalist Sean Bott. Certainly, COVID has meant that many things about life on and off campus are less than ideal, but Sweet Briar women know that they can do anything they put their minds to. While we look forward to a return to normal, our students’ leadership has shown that as a community, we can make the best of whatever life throws at us.
Holla, holla!
Annika Kuleba ‘22 and Abby Cahill ‘21 at Quad Rocks
