By CAYLEE HANNA, Page Editor
Despite the many changes COVID-19 has brought to Amarillo College, the Student Life department will offer virtual and in-person options for student activities this semester.
“Student Life will still be very active this fall semester with a variety of events in multiple formats, not only in-person,” Miranda McHugh, the Student Life administrative assistant, said. “When we are on campus and requesting students to participate in an event or activity in person, masks and social distancing measures will be enforced. We also plan to have come-and-go options as well as virtual if a student is not comfortable coming to campus, but would still like to be engaged.”
Jenna Welch, Student Life coordinator, said they are working with the AC Student Government Association to create a fun environment outside of the classroom.
“Student Life is focused on keeping our students’ safety as the utmost importance, while still striving for an engaging college experience,” Welch said. “We have been working with the Student Government Association to ensure that our events will continue to provide a fun and welcoming connection outside of the classroom.”
“Our mission to provide students with opportunities to engage with one another and make the best of their time at AC has not changed. We are confident that students who participate in our in-person and online activities will still find them rewarding and fun. There will still be clubs available for students to join, both personal and professional development opportunities, fun events and, of course, free food,” Welch said.
Students will also see some changes in the intramural sports program due to social distancing procedures.
“Intramurals will be different in the regards that we will not be hosting our traditional leagues and tournaments such as flag football, volleyball, 3-on-3 basketball and the like,” Trent Oneal, the coordinator of intramural sports, said.
“Instead, we’ll be offering a lot of other events both on and off campus that will allow participants the chance to come and participate and then leave, like a Punt, Pass and Kick Contest where students will come between given hours, perform their attempts and then leave. Awards will be announced and given the following day.”
Oneal said that the substitute events will also include virtual options.
“As with our leagues and tournaments, we will not have some of our traditional events like Gotcha or Zombies versus Humans, but we will have other events and challenges like our virtual races and discussions with professionals. For example, a discussion with certified shooting instructor Rob Altman who will discuss how to get involved in local shooting events,” he said.
Students will not have to choose between staying safe and participating.
“Student Life has been working hard to make sure that there are a plethora of events and engagement opportunities for the student body of AC. We first and foremost want to ensure the safety of our students and simultaneously want to provide full student experience while attending AC. Many of our events will come and go and we will strongly be enforcing social distancing and wearing of masks,” Oneal said.
Welch said that despite the new challenges, she is glad to see the semester get started.
“We are excited to see our Badgers this fall, and are ready to have an amazing semester.”
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