With everything going on, it may seem a little pointless to be attending your school’s org fair and putting your name on endless mailing lists that will certainly be filled with plenty of Zoom meetings. However, there are some great reasons you should sign up anyways if you have the time.
For one thing, club meetings can bring a sense of normalcy and routine to your schedule. Hopping on a weekly Zoom call can be a refreshing break from sitting in your dorm waiting for things to return to normal.
Not to mention, even over Zoom, student orgs are a great way to meet people. Especially with socially distant and/or virtual classrooms, it’s become extremely difficult to make new connections. Org meetings often have more open space for casual discussion where you can chat with students going through the same struggles as you without any professors crashing your break rooms.
Additionally, a lot of student orgs are using this semester to pioneer new methods of creating their work. Theatre is getting livestreamed, physical publications are dusting off their websites, and TV shows are getting filmed over Zoom.
As things return to whatever we’ve defined as normalcy in the coming year, some of these new methods may stick, especially with the opportunities they open up to connect people all over the world. Being able to tell an interviewer you were part of the first group at your school to hold a virtual dance concert may just be what lands you the job!
So don’t chalk this semester up to COVID-19 and vow to try again next year—take this opportunity to try something new, you just might like it!