COVID has had an everlasting effect on our day to day lives and has required the majority population to do something different, whether that is citizens having to wear masks, to a job having to fire workers for a safely-populated work spaces, to even restaurants and businesses not allowing a lot of people inside their establishment for a time.
COVID has definitely had an effect on Southern University’s class schedules with classes being online, offline, and hybrid, but also on the school’s on campus activities ranging from sports events, fraternity events, concerts, and pageants.
Before COVID, everyone was able to attend the campus events without a problem and fully experience the college lifestyle. But now that we are in the midst of a life threatening global pandemic, the school must have had to make changes in order to keep their students safe.
There is definitely a substantial difference in on campus activities such as sports events. The main sport to have changed would be football. Going into next Fall, we can expect to see traditional SWAC football customs such as tailgating making a return. Football may be the school’s most successful turn-out event due to students being able to get in the games for free and also for the amazing music the band has to offer, and with COVID vaccinations becoming more abundant in all places, it’s the hope that the many students and fans who would not attend do to COVID regulations may be making a comeback as well.
Fraternity events such as parties, workshops, and the like have also had to come to a halt at COVID. They do resume online however, via Zoom in which groups are able to hold their calls. How much of a difference so far in overall attendance is unclear, but it seems to be a difference in effectiveness and they are not able to fully get their point across as they would probably hope. With the vaccine becoming more readily available, most students may feel like they may not be getting the full college experience if next Fall doesn’t have more interactive student-centered activities.
I personally do not enjoy going to parties and seeing a lot of random people, but I do miss seeing the excitement on people’s faces before and after their own experience. This being said, the biggest thing that needs to make a comeback are music concerts.
Class of 2020 just received the extremely short end of the stick since they were unable to have either Springfest or Homecoming in their final semester. The pageants were a huge part of campus activities and always kept the campus with something to do, whether it’s participating in them or simply just going to spectate. My personal favorite was the Ms. Thicker Than a Snicker pageant. It was truly an extraordinarily fun pageant to be at and enjoy and in my years of being here they always had the biggest turn out.
From the football games to the pageants, everything, I feel, will and must return but only in due time. I am most excited for the football & basketball games being packed out and being around my fellow students as the band provides the amazing music they do as the football team proceeds to defeat and demoralize the other team. They are all such a huge part of campus life and offer that liveliness that people can talk about and perhaps even inspire friends or family to attend school here. Without these activities Southern has a void inside of it that only these pieces can fill.
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Pre-COVID vs. Post COVID: Where are we now
February 22, 2022
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