In the spring of 2020, when the pandemic first forced the School to turn fully virtual, the Student Activities Center (SAC) scrambled to find a way for students to stay connected over Zoom. As Choate has slowly transitioned to in-person learning, the SAC followed suit. Although the transition was not always easy or straightforward, students are once again beginning to convene for various clubs and social events on campus.
During the 2020-2021 academic year, events held in the SAC were limited by strict masking, physical-distancing protocols, and a period of remote learning. According to the SAC, between the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic year, the number of students who belonged to clubs dropped by 40%, from 1,980 to 1,178.
Chair of the Committee on Student Activities (COSA) and President of GirlUp Rhea Shah ’22 realized the importance of club life in meeting new people during the pandemic. “Club meetings and events over Zoom reported lower attendance rates than we have seen in past years, and I think we felt that effect on our community,’’ she said.
This year, however, the SAC has seen the number of students attending events rebound. “It’s clear that students are craving social interaction, so we have seen them at events more this year,” said Ms. Alexandra Long, the Director of Student Activities.
The SAC is currently hosting events at the rate it did before Covid-19 struck. Twenty clubs have already hosted school-wide events during the weekend and many clubs have consistently scheduled weekly meetings.
“I think I’ve seen pretty much every club has hosted a meeting, if not multiple meetings, whether it’s weekly or biweekly this term, which was definitely not something we were even seeing before Covid-19,” said Ms. Colleen Kazar, the Assistant Director of Student Activities and Adviser to COSA.
With the SAC also granting a $200 budget for each club, turnout at meetings has increased. The Lit Editor-in-Chief Marcus Ding ’22 highlighted the benefits of ordering food as incentives to get new club members and making meetings more enjoyable. Similarly, Finance and Investment Club found 238 students signed up to their email list at Club Fair, and of those, 70 are active members — numbers much higher than pre-Covid times.
President of Spectrum, Jess Zhao ’23, also enjoyed the increased club engagement and experienced fresh solidarity missing during Zoom meetings. “Spectrum’s first meeting of the year overwhelmed me in many ways. For one, I had never seen that many people in the project room before. The crowd was full of newcomers to Spectrum — something that we, in previous years, had struggled with — and everyone was restless,” they said. “There’s an outpouring of camaraderie at every meeting, and people seem readier to compliment each other, to affirm even complete strangers.”
Still, with campus life returning to normal again, so are the busy schedules for all the students. Vice President of the Environmental Action Coalition (EAC) Lauren Ben-Ezra ’22 reflected on the fast-paced life at Choate, especially since “students have very little time for clubs, planning events, and meetings at times that work for all people.”
However, Zhao has appreciated how clubs have been a space to vent about the transition to the rapid pace of Choate life. “I’ve noticed a lot of bonding over adjusting to the Choate workload, confusion about Choate traditions, and trying to find a place at Choate. I think that feeling is especially prominent for LGBTQIA+ members who are navigating how Choate impacts their identity after a long time stuck at home,” they said.
Indeed, many clubs have created spaces for students to unpack and heal from the events of the past two years, including mass grief over the pandemic, racial trauma, political unrest, and the struggle of being quarantined at home. “For many, Choate offers a place to experiment with expressing your identity, but the pandemic has taken away much of our sense of security,” said Zhao. “Almost every meeting has a moment that touches on pandemic fatigue and the fear of suddenly being confined to remote learning in unsupportive spaces.”
Similarly, before the start of the year, the GirlUp cabinet had a meeting to discuss their vision of the year and decided that they wanted to develop a space where people felt comfortable to speak openly about gender inequality and brainstorm ideas to enact significant change.
Particularly through joint meetings, many clubs have found ways to connect students across different corners of campus through healing conversation. For example, during Ally Week, Spectrum hosted a joint meeting with The Body Project to discuss how body image intersects with gender identity and sexuality — a topic related to the family pressures more explicitly experienced during quarantine.
As winter term continues, Shah, too, hopes that club life will help heal and rebuild community. She said, “Club life at Choate has always, in my opinion, been essential in creating bonds between people. Covid-19 put physical and emotional distance between us, leaving us unable to foster as a community as we traditionally had in the past. In-person club life is one way to begin to bridge this distance.”
